Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Joseph, dude, I really really need your help right now."

Joseph looked past his open locker door and raised an eyebrow at Conrad, who was leaning on the lockers next to him.

"Oh? What do you need help with?"

"Okay, so, I'm going to ask Jun to come with me to prom, and--"

"i thought your date to prom had to be from your school?" Joseph interrupted.

"I've got Jun a ticket so it's fine. I just, you know, need to ask him to come with me. And get something to wear with me too."

"So, I'm struggling to see my part in here. You go over there," Joseph gestured to where Jun was sitting on the bench next to Yuzuru, showing off his new headphones, "and you try not to get killed by Yuzuru, and you ask Jun if he wants to come to prom with you, and--"

"Alright, thanks Joseph." Conrad's voice dripped with sarcasm. "How many times has this worked for you?"

Joseph flushed bright red and Conrad folded his arms over his chest.

"That's not the point," Joseph countered, slamming shut his locker. "The point is, you asked for my help and that's my advice."

"Yeah, okay, thanks, I'll ask Jason instead."

Joseph caught Conrad's sleeve, face turning serious now. "I'll help you ask him to prom. Let's come up with a plan over lunch."

The plan was simple. Go up to Jun, preferably when Yuzuru wasn't around to glare daggers at him, ask Jun if he'd like to go to prom with him, give him the ticket, and maybe offer to go shopping with him so that they could coordinate with their suit colours. Simple.

It really was not simple.

Conrad fiddled with the white envelope in his hands, playing with the corners of it as he waited impatiently for Yuzuru to shut the hell up about Jun's flip edge and the height on his axel and his layback spin and blah blah blah skating stuff. Yuzuru Hanyu really could talk for Japan. Yuzuru caught Conrad's eyes, looking over Jun's shoulder, and his glare darkened. Jun caught on and looked back over his shoulder, face breaking out into the brightest smile that Conrad had ever seen, making butterflies flutter about in his stomach.

"Hi Conrad!" Jun bounced over to him, yes, bounced like a baby bunny, and looped one arm through his, dragging him over to Yuzuru. "Yuzuru and I were just talking about the loop jump and we think it's the best! Well, I think it's the best and he thinks it's the second best, after the axel. What do you think?"

it took Conrad an embarrassingly long amount of time to realise that Jun had asked him a question, and he flushed bright red, right to the tips of his ears. Curse his blonde complexion!

"Your loops are beautiful," he managed to mumble out, fighting down the urge to just cup Jun's cheeks and pull him into a kiss. He'd have probably got Yuzuru's skate to his face if he'd tried that. "Both of you. Um, do you have a minute Jun?"

Yuzuru's glare on him darkened and, ever the oblivious sunshine child, Jun didn't notice. He nodded and squeezed Conrad's arm that was still looped with his.

"Of course!" he grinned and waved to Yuzuru with a smile. "See you later!"

"Bye Jun," Yuzuru's tone was light and soft before he turned to Conrad, eyes hardening. "Bye bye Bean-pole."

Jun had to hide his snort of laughter at the "affectionate" nickname Yuzuru gave Conrad, and they headed away from the locker room together towards the drinks machines. Conrad chewed on his lip, growing more and more flustered.

"Hey," Jun let go of his arm and tilted his head at the other like an adorable puppy. "Is everything okay?"

"It's fine," Conrad said with a forced smile. "I'm fine." Standing between the machine that he bought his Gatorade from and the snack machine was not the romantic setting that he'd envisaged when he'd mentally planned asking Jun to prom. He rubbed the back of his neck and Jun glanced down at the envelope in his other hand.

"What's that?"

"This? Oh, uh, just, a letter. From my parents. To Brian."

Conrad you moron.

"Oh," Jun gave him a light smile. "So, um, what did you want to talk about?"

"Ah. Yes. That. Right." Conrad started to ramble and his brain went into panic mode, just like that of a teenage boy in front of a pretty girl. Well, he did have the brain of a bisexual teenage boy in front of a gorgeous, handsome, super attractive, okay Conrad reign it in a bit, teenage boy, so who could really blame him for his brain being a mess? "Well, um, Jun, you have some of the best costumes in the field."

Jun blinked at him for a moment. "Thanks?" he said very slowly. "Are you going to ask me to design your next costumes for you?"

"No no, nothing like that," Conrad chuckled, even as the butterflies flitted around inside his stomach mercilessly. "Well, you see, my prom is coming up soon. Amelia's invited too. And I was wondering something."

Conrad paused and Jun tilted his head at him curiously. "You can ask me anything you know. I won't judge you or anything."

"Right, I know I know."

"Conrad, are you sure you're okay?" Jun frowned at him and placed a hand on his cheek. "You're really flushed. Maybe you need a drink?"

"I'm fine!" Curse puberty and it's inopportune voice cracks! Conrad cleared his throat and tried again. "I'm fine, I promise. It's just, a kind of weird ask, you know?"

"Like I said, I won't judge you or anything. How can I help?"

"Right, so, yeah, I was wondering if you'd maybe want to... Maybe you'd want to come shopping with us so that you can help us pick out what to wear? Cause like, you're super stylish and everything and yeah, we could really use your eye for fashion."

Jun blinked at him, a little taken aback initially, but a smile blossomed across his face again that made his brown eyes sparkle. "Sure! I'd love to. What time and where?"

"How about next weekend?" Conrad was determined to not screw this up any further than he already had. "I can ask my mum to pick you up on the way if you want? Then you can get a lift with us."

"Sounds amazing!" Jun gave Conrad a hug that sent his brain into overdrive. "See you later! I've got to run for a choreography session with David. Bye!"

Conrad watched him go, waiting until he saw Jun disappear into one of the dance studios, before he slapped himself in the face.

"You moron."

Jun was all but bouncing with excitement when Conrad's family picked him up. He sat in the back seat next to Conrad, squishing him in between Jun and his sister. Conrad was hyper aware of Jun's leg brushing his, and Amelia was perfectly happy to elbow him hard in the stomach so that she could lean over and talk to Jun.

"He's much more interesting than you Conrad!" She'd explained, much to Conrad's irritation. "I mean, he's already made so much history in his country! And he's been to the Olympics! And he came fifteenth at those Olympics when he was the youngest competitor! I mean, isn't that just so cool?"

Conrad couldn't disagree with her and he used the car journey as an opportunity to just take in Jun's appearance. Was it creepy? Maybe a bit. Did he care? Maybe a bit. Was he going to stop? No. No way. Jun's eyes sparkled in the Canadian sunlight and he moved his soft black hair out of his eyes so that he could talk to Amelia better. Conrad was only shaken out of his daydream by his mother slowing the car as she parked.

"Alright! Let's get you a dress, you a suit, and both of you all the little things you need for your prom."

Conrad cringed. He loved his parents dearly, he really did, but sometimes they were just a little too enthusiastic. He glanced over at Jun, worried about how it would appear to him, but he needn't have bothered. Jun was all but vibrating with excitement as he followed Amelia and Conrad's mother into the suit and dress shop.

Amelia went a little wild. She started chattering away to her mother immediately, picking out dress after dress after dress. Conrad and Jun looked at each other before they both burst out laughing, lightening the atmosphere between them. Jun's laugh, to Conrad, sounded almost magical, and he couldn't help but be soothed by it. This was Jun! Jun, who was, first and foremost, his best friend.

"Come on, they'll be busy for ages," Conrad looped his arm through Jun's and led him over towards the rack of suits. "You can help me pick something out, since I have no eye for fashion whatsoever."

"That's a lie," Jun protested but he perked up immediately when he saw the suits. Conrad let him go and just watched as Jun took them off the racks and compared them to Conrad before he looped them over his arm or put them back. Conrad soon found himself shoved into a changing room by Jun with six different suits to try on.

"I'm not wearing black!" Conrad poked his head out from behind the curtain. "I'm not going to a funeral!"

"Fine fine, give me the two black ones then," Jun stuck his tongue out at Conrad. "You get changed and I'll put these back, and then you can show me it, okay?"

Conrad nodded and disappeared behind the curtain again. The first suit that Jun had chosen was a navy blue with a white shirt and no tie. Conrad tried it on and, looking at himself in the mirror, he pushed his hair up a little bit more, trying to make himself look better.

"Are you ready?" Jun's voice carried through the curtain and Conrad steeled himself, stepping out. "Woah."

Conrad just about managed to meet Jun's eyes and the younger looked him up and down in awe. "Just wow. You look amazing. And you've only tried on one so far! Man, your date is going to be so lucky! Try on the next one!"

Conrad nearly choked when he heard Jun talking about his date, but he dutifully tried on the next three suits, modelling them for Jun. They both agreed that the first one looked the best on Conrad, and Jun grabbed his arm to tug him over to the next part of the store that Amelia and Conrad's mother were in.

"What's this?" Conrad wrinkled his nose as he looked at the shoes that covered the floor-to-ceiling shelves.

"Shoes, duh," Amelia compared two sets of high heels in her hands, "they can make or break an outfit, Conrad. Or, in your case, they just break the outfit."

Conrad's mother quickly intervened before a fight could break out between the siblings, and Jun tried very hard not to burst out laughing. He helped Conrad pick out a neat pair of brown shoes that complimented the navy of the suit perfectly before Amelia dragged the Korean over to help her choose between three sets of heels. Jun's creative and critical eye studied them carefully and she eventually settled on a pair of lilac heels to go with her pale purple dress.

"Aren't you getting a suit, dear?" Jun jolted in shock as Conrad's mother addressed him kindly. "I thought you were going to the prom too?"

"Me?" Jun's smile turned into confusion. "Oh, no, I mean, I don't go to their school. And I wouldn't really go if we had one in my school in Korea anyway. I got to an all boys' school so we wouldn't really do something like this."

"Oh, that's a shame," Conrad's mother patted Jun's shoulder sympathetically. "Are you sure you don't want to try something on? Seems like a waste to come out here and not even try one. You can always wear it for a skating banquet."

"Come on," Conrad looped his arm through Jun's and led him back over to the suits. "Let's find you one too."

They did, eventually, find Jun one. Sleek black with sharp edges and no tie, like Conrad's, it suited him so well that Conrad couldn't speak for several seconds. Despite Jun's protests, Conrad's mother insisted on buying him the suit and the new shoes he had picked out, claiming that Jun had saved them hours of Amelia's indecision and Conrad's indifference. They put their shopping into the car before Conrad's mother gave them all a smile.

"Okay, Amelia and I are going to go and buy her some accessories that I assume you two won't need. Why don't you two go and get coffee or something together and then we can all meet back at the car in about an hour?"

Before Conrad had time to even process what she'd said, she and Amelia had disappeared, leaving him and Jun on a street corner. They exchanged a look and Conrad rolled his eyes over dramatically.

"Come on. Let's go and find a coffee shop together."

After searching several streets, they made it to an independent coffee shop. They settled down together in a corner booth and, again, despite Jun's protests, Conrad insisted on paying for their drinks. Jun sipped at his cup of tea and Conrad, despite having butterflies in his stomach, felt much more relaxed and calm.

"Hey, Jun?"

Jun glanced up from his mug and smiled at Conrad. "Yeah?"

"I don't actually have a date for prom yet."

"What's the worry? You're attractive and you've got time to find someone. I bet lots of girls will be fawning over you."

Conrad reached for his free hand and took it with a light smile. A soft pale pink blush spread out across Jun's nose and he met Conrad's eyes.

"I don't want to go with them." Conrad confessed. "I want to go with you Jun. Will you be my date to prom?"

Jun blinked at him before his smile grew and he nodded vigorously. "Yes! Conrad I'd love to!"

Conrad squeezed his hands and blushed a little himself. "Aren't you so glad that we got you that suit?"

"Very."

For the rest of the ride back to Jun's house, Conrad didn't feel so bad about poking him in the side and teasing him. When Jun got out, Conrad felt a little flutter of butterflies again when Jun waved to him as they drove away.

Chapter Text

Over the weekend since asking Jun to prom, Conrad had been on cloud nine. He'd all but bounced through the days and he had a bubble of happiness that bobbed inside of him, making him feel lighter than air. He stepped into the club with a bright smile and a spring in his step. His happy mood lasted right until he came face to face with two murderous pairs of eyes. One of them was very familiar as they belonged to Jun's "skating dad": the whole 172 centimetres of murderous Japanese rage. The other pair was much less familiar but just as intense, and Conrad, even at 183 centimetres tall, had to look up to meet them.

"Morning Yuzuru," Conrad nodded to him and was met by a cold glare. Conrad let out a shriek when Yuzuru high-kicked the wall next to him, foot about level with Conrad's head. "Yuzuru?!"

"Let me introduce my new friend," Yuzuru gestured to the other man, "His name is Jung Yun-ho, and he's Jun's friend. We need to talk to you."

"Do you mind lowering your leg?" Conrad asked and Yuzuru's glare just darkened. "U-Um... Nice to meet you Mr Yun-ho?"

"Just Yun-ho will do," Yun-ho folded his arms and looked Conrad up and down. "This is the one, Yuzuru?"

"Yes," Yuzuru's glare darkened. "This is the Bean-pole who asked Jun to be his prom date."

"Wait, how on earth do you know about that?" Conrad protested but both Yuzuru and Yun-ho ignored him.

"So, to introduce myself properly, since you don't appear to know who I am--"

"I know who you are--"

"Don't interrupt him!" Yuzuru snapped, gaze somehow darkening even further. Conrad was pretty sure that if looks could kill, he would have been a puddle of goo on the floor. "Carry on Yun-ho."

"Thank you Yuzuru. I'm Yun-ho, member of TVXQ, and Cha Jun Hwan's eternal rival. And no one hurts my eternal rival."

"And no one hurts my skating baby."

Conrad sighed, looking between the pair of them. Yuzuru still had his foot casually on the wall next to Conrad's head, even as he tried to ignore it.

"So, what exactly are you guys suggesting?"

"Are you planning to take him on a date before this prom?" Yun-ho asked. "Get to know him better?"

"I mean, he's my best friend," Conrad tried to defend himself. "I already know a lot about him and--"

"Wrong answer," Yuzuru cut in. "We've booked you a table at a little Thai restaurant this evening. We'll cover the tab. We've made sure that there will be absolutely no press anywhere near you so you can be honest and have a nice night. We will be watching, obviously, as we've also got tables at the restaurant booked."

"You take care of my rival on this date, or so help me God you will not get another chance."

Brian had no idea why Conrad had a very messy training session before lunch, and why he suddenly had a much better session after. Brian also had no idea that Jun and Conrad had sat together and had lunch, exchanging kisses underneath the umbrellas outside of the club.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Conrad glanced up from the pile of clothes on his bed and groaned, rubbing his face with his hand as his dad stepped into his room.

"I've got a date tonight and I have no idea what to wear!"

His dad cleared a space on the bed and sat down. "Who is the date with?"

Conrad paused, chewing on his lip.

"Jun?"

He flushed bright pink, choking on his words as his dad burst out laughing.

"You're an open book, son. You've had a crush on him since Dresden in 2016! I'm glad you're finally going on a date together. Where are you going?"

"Thai restaurant."

"Very nice," his dad then looked at the pile of clothes and picked out a simple blue button up and some of Conrad's nicer jeans. "These."

"Are you sure? What if Jun goes all out and--"

"Conrad. You're an attractive kid. You're a model and an athlete."

"So is he," Conrad pointed out and his dad rolled his eyes.

"My point is, you shouldn't be so worried about it because there are so many more important things about you to worry about than what you're wearing."

"Okay, okay, you're right." Conrad nodded and gave his dad a hug. "Thanks Dad."

"Just make sure you use a condom if--"

"Dad!"

Conrad’s breath caught in his throat when he walked into the restaurant. There, sitting at a table tucked in the corner with his face mostly illuminated by candlelight, was Jun. He leaned his chin on his hand and the sleeves of his soft white jumper sipped over his fingertips. When he saw Conrad approaching the table his eyes lit up and he reached across the table to take his hands into his own, soft thumbs rubbing across the backs of his hands.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Conrad smiled and squeezed his hands. “You look gorgeous.”

“So do you.” Jun giggled.

Sitting at two of the tables behind Jun, Conrad caught sight of Yuzuru and Yun-ho in comically bad disguises. Yuzuru glared daggers at him and Conrad hid his face in the menu. Jun squeezed his hand, sending the butterflies fluttering again in his stomach. They placed their orders and Jun tilted his head as he looked at Conrad. A shy little smile spread across his face followed by the adorable blush.

"You're staring at me." Conrad rubbed at his cheeks in a desperate attempt to get rid of any stains around his mouth. "Have I got something on my face?"

"Beauty," Jun's smooth response was very quiet and shy but it was more than enough to make Conrad flush.

"Says you."

Jun blushed further and his face scrunched up in happiness. The conversation between them flowed so easily; they were best friends after all and knew each other very well. Conrad even started to feel lighter when he saw Yun-ho give him what he hoped was an approving nod; it was a nod of some kind. Everything was going swimmingly. Jun loved the food and they'd just placed their order for dessert when he'd got up to go to the bathroom. Conrad thought nothing of it and looked down to check his phone for two seconds.

"Yun-ho?!"

CRAP!

"Conrad!" He looked up with a bright smile and saw Jun bouncing over with Yun-ho in tow. "Conrad, oh my God, you're not going to believe this! Have I ever introduced you to my eternal rival Yun-ho? We were on Yuna Kim's Kiss and Cry together! He's one of my best friends and he's staying in Canada for a while! Isn't that amazing?"

"Yeah," Conrad tried to throw fake enthusiasm into his voice for Jun's sake, not that the other noticed, "that's pretty amazing. Nice to meet you Mr Yun-ho."

Yun-ho was a fabulous actor. He smiled at him, warmly and politely, and gave him a polite nod.

"Nice to meet you too, Conrad was it?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm Conrad Orzel. Nice to meet you. I train with Jun and he's my best friend and--"

Conrad trailed off, mostly because he wasn't sure of what he could say. Were they dating? Were they boyfriends? He'd only asked him to be his prom date not long ago and this was their first date.

"And?" Yun-ho prompted, raising an eyebrow at Conrad as he scrutinised him.

"And we're working on it," Jun came to his rescue; he seemed so bright and bubbly around Yun-ho.

"I see," Yun-ho looked between them before he turned his attention almost solely onto Jun. "So, I saw your collaboration with Hyuk. It was absolutely phenomenal, beautiful, but who could expect anything less from my eternal rival, huh?" he teased Jun, earning that sparkling laugh. "And I was wondering if you'd do want to do something together? You and TVXQ? Or you and me? The rivals, starting from Kim Yuna's Kiss and Cry, finally reunited and on the ice together but in a slightly different way! The world would adore it-- Jun?"

Jun Hwan Cha fainted right there on the spot, and it was a miracle that Conrad managed to move in time to catch him. Yuzuru emerged from his table in the corner and the three exchanged a look before they all glanced down at Jun.

"Alright Bean-pole. This is your chance to prove how amazing a date you are. The guy you love and have a crush on is unconscious. What are you going to do about it?"

"Um," Conrad looked down at Jun and promptly decided that that was a bad idea. He'd never noticed just how long Jun's eyelashes were before, how smooth his skin was, how soft his hair felt when his head was leaning on his shoulder.

"Earth to the Bean-pole!" Yuzuru snapped his fingers in front of Conrad's eyes to draw him out of his daydream. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll take him to his house," Conrad decided, scooping Jun up into his arms and carrying him like a princess. "Explain to his mother that he just got a bit excited at seeing Yun-ho and passed out."

"And then what?"

Conrad blinked at the pair of them, frowning a little. "And then?"

"And then you make sure he's got a glass of water, some headache tablets, make sure that he's going to feel better when he wakes up!" Yun-ho explained. "Tuck him into bed, wish him goodnight, and then go. That's what you do. You'd better take good care of my rival, Conrad, or you'll face the both of us."

Yuzuru had his murder glare on and, even though Conrad had seen the clips of Yun-ho being a soft marshmallow with Jun, the other looked menacing. Conrad hurriedly nodded and left the restaurant with Jun in his arms, climbing into the back of his dad's car wordlessly.

"Good date?" His dad half joked, just earning a groan from Conrad as they drove back to the younger's house.

"Went about as well as a date can go when they end up unconscious at the end of it."

"Sounds perfect."

Chapter Text

Jun recovered from his little fainting spell and was back to training the next day. Jeff had physically had to shove David out of the way when Jun mentioned choreography with a KPop artist, jumping at the opportunity. Jun, Jeff, and Yun-ho had completely taken over one of the dance studios and had barricaded themselves in for their "top secret work"; it was mostly to keep Evgenia and her fangirling over Yun-ho out. When they emerged, Jun looked lighter than air and Jeff was gushing something about it being the best skate he'd ever choreographed. That was quickly amended to the best exhibition skate he'd ever choreographed when he caught Yuzuru glaring because of course, Chopin Ballade was a masterpiece. It wasn't like Jun really cared. He was so happy with the choreography, and Yun-ho seemed happy with it too.

Now, when Conrad got a new skate, he wasn't really focused on the costumes. He followed that ancient proverb that had probably been written by Nathan Chen: figure skaters should focus more on their training and skating than on their costumes. His weren't quite as similar to training gear as Nathan Chen's were, but they were absolutely on the simpler side. They were closer to Nathan than Yuzuru on the International Spectrum of Figure Skating Costumes.

Jun? Oh, Jun was like Yuzuru Hanyu Lite when it came to his costumes. Classy, and sometimes simple, but they were highly effective and designed to highlight his everything. Which obviously meant that he needed to make sure that the costume for his collaboration with TVXQ was perfect. And, for some strange reason, Conrad was dragged along for the ride because of his "other perspective." Whatever that meant.

Yun-ho and Conrad stood together, and, for the first time, they seemed to be on the same wavelength. Jun was gushing in a mix of Korean and English about how beautiful the samples were and what did they think was the best and oh this red is just gorgeous! Oh, but so is this blue, but purple looks nice on him, but black and white is traditional and gorgeous, oh but he's never worn pink before, and--

"And of course it has to have lace on it," Jun nodded to himself as he held up a piece of the dark blue fabric that was a similar shade to the costume of his lesser known The Planets free skate, "since it's kind of my thing now."

"Yeah, V-necks, open backs, or lace." Conrad couldn't help but laugh and he gave Jun a little hug. "Oooh, that shade of blue would look so good on you."

"Does it really fit the song though?" Yun-ho chewed on his lip and both him and Jun started to study it much more critically.

"Maybe the dark purple would be better?"

Conrad held up a piece of it, comparing it to Jun's cheek, and both him and Yun-ho nodded with a smile.

"This shade."

"Are you two sure?" Jun asked with all seriousness. "This is our collaboration, Yun-ho. The reunion of those two amazing rivals from the show. It has to be perfect!"

"It will be." Yun-ho's promise and calming tone worked magic on Jun and made him relax. "But try on something coloured in that purple. I think it would look so good on you, okay?"

Jun nodded and, after a brief conversation with the designer, he was being measured up and a sketch was drawn. It was a simple idea but had enough little embellishments added that made it so inherently Jun Hwan Cha.

"I can't wait until we pick it up!" Jun gushed as they chatted in the coffee shop together. "Oh, this is going to be the best exhibition skate ever!"

"Everything you do on the ice is great." Yun-ho poked his cheek. "I told you that your goal wasn't the show. Your goal was the world, remember? And who has taken the world by storm?"

"Yuzuru?" Jun joked and he burst out laughing at Yun-ho's impression. "Kidding kidding! I made a little bit of a splash--"

"You made a lot of a splash," Conrad pointed out.

"But there's still a lot I can do to improve and a lot I need to do."

"You will," Yun-ho gave Jun a one armed hug. "You will."

Yun-ho acted just like Jun's own older brother did, or like Jason did. He knew how to make Jun feel at ease. He knew how to make him happier. He knew how to make him calm. He was good at distracting Jun and transforming his nerves and anxieties into jokes and smiles.

"You got a training session this afternoon?" Conrad asked and Jun shook his head.

"I'm taking Yun-ho around Toronto, and we're going to try not to get killed by fans."

"Have fun," Conrad gave him a light kiss on the cheek, much to Yun-ho's displeasure, before he disappeared back into the club.

Jun pulled his mask up over his nose and mouth, and Yun-ho bumped him with his shoulder as they walked together along the path into the city. The cool wind of Toronto bit at the exposed skin of their faces as they explored the city and Jun showed Yun-ho his favourite cafes, favourite little streets, and favourite places away from the main buzz where he could hide if he really needed to. They settled in a small coffee shop that Jun had frequented so often he was on first name terms with the baristas. They sat at the table in the corner, tucked away from everyone else, and Yun-ho raised an eyebrow at Jun as he sipped at his latte.

"So. You and Conrad?"

Jun flushed pink and nodded, busying himself with his cup of tea. "It's a pretty new thing. I'm going to go to prom with him and we're just working it out from there I guess?"

Yun-ho nodded and gave Jun a little smile. "Good. I'm happy you're happy. Although I'm not quite sure how I feel about him exactly."

Jun sipped at his tea, making eye contact with Yun-ho. "What do you mean you don't know how you feel about him?"

"This is the closest I'll ever get to Shovel Talk," Jun chuckled at Yun-ho's comments, "but yeah, I'm not sure I fully trust him with my eternal rival's heart yet. If he breaks it, just let me know."

Back at the club, Yuzuru skated around with his pensive frown that Brian had learnt meant that there was something that was really plaguing his mind. The intensity of his glare kept Brian back from talking to him; he and Tracy just kept an eye on Yuzuru and only interfered when they needed to. Yuzuru drilled quad axels, on the harness under Ghislain's watchful eye, and he got more and more frustrated when he relied too much on it for the landing.

"Easy," Ghislain held up his hand to get Yuzuru's attention and snap him out of his frustration. "Easy. Go and get a snack, get some water, and relax, okay?"

"Hai."

Yuzuru nodded, slipping on his blade guards with a light sigh. He poked Pooh-san on the nose, patted him on the head, and then left him to guard his bag and water bottle before he headed out towards the cafeteria with his bar of Ghana chocolate in his hands. He settled in the corner and broke off one of the pieces, popping it in his mouth but not really tasting it. He scrolled through his phone, answering some of Nobu's crazy messages and mindlessly browsing social media with his secret Instagram account, when his eyes were covered.

"Guess who!"

The accent was so familiar and comforting, like a warm hot chocolate on a cool wintery day in Toronto after a hard training session. The person's scent was warm too: blended cinnamon and nutmeg that reminded Yuzuru of the time he and his sister tried baking together and nearly set their kitchen on fire. The hands were familiar too; he had felt them on his shoulders, waist, back, and on his own hands when he'd slipped over on the ice during training. He couldn't help but smile.

"Javi!"

"Hi Yuzu!"

Yuzuru all but leapt into his arms, hugging him tightly like his life depended on him. Javier had no problem hugging him back.

"What are you doing back here? I thought you would be away for another few weeks!"

"The competition finished at the weekend and I was going to stop over in Spain on the way back but then my juniors just wanted to get right back to training so we came back here as soon as we could. Which means I got to see you again sooner."

Yuzu nodded, hiding his face in the other's neck with a smile and Javier held him like he was the most precious thing in the world.

"I got you a present too."

Yuzuru raised an eyebrow at him and pulled back a little from the hug to properly look him in the eyes.

"Why does that make me so worried?"

Javier laughed and brushed the hair out of Yuzuru's eyes so that he could place a kiss to his forehead.

"It shouldn't! I promise it's a good thing!"

Yuzuru took the box from Javier and they settled down at the table together, with Javi keeping one arm around him. He opened up the fancy red box and gasped, slamming the lid straight back down.

"Lace?"

"Belgium is known for it," Javier grinned at him. "Do you like it?"

"I'll have to have a proper look at home." Yuzuru leaned up and placed a kiss to Javier's cheek. "Thank you."

"Anything for you, mi vida. Anything for you."

Chapter Text

The world caught wind of the collaboration between Jun and Yun-ho and both figure skating twitter and KPop twitter exploded. Both of their Korean management did what they could to placate the situation, but the buzz of excitement that had been sparked could be felt by everyone and couldn't be quelled. Brian groaned into his coffee when he read the email that had been translated from Korean to English for him.

Dear Mr Orser,

Due to the popularity of the collaboration between your student, Cha Jun Hwan, and U-Know Yun-ho online, we, as his management, believe that a promotional photo shoot before the ice show where the exhibition skate will be debuted would be beneficial both for the show and for their careers. A draft contract has been attached to the email for you and Cha Jun Hwan to read over. This can be negotiated and will need to be signed by both you and him as well as a parent or guardian for him.

We are looking forward to hearing from you Mr Orser.

Brian rolled his eyes, downing the rest of his coffee before he started to lace up his skates. He'd talk to Jun about it after his training session was done.

Jun had all but jumped at the idea, and he was practically glowing with happiness when the contract was negotiated with both Brian and his mother present as well as a translator. The three of them penned their signatures to the bottom as well as Yun-ho, and a date and venue were selected.

Jun had collected his costume for the skate and refused to answer any questions about it to the small army of press that were following Yun-ho's every move, and his by association. They were escorted inside a photography venue together and were ushered into their seats before the huge stage mirrors. No expense had been spared, and people flitted around the pair of them.

"I feel like an idol," Jun joked as a makeup artist added highlighter to his cheekbones and nose. "Is this what you do every day?"

"Not quite every day," Yun-ho laughed in response as he dutifully kept his eyes closed so that the eyeliner and eye shadow could be applied. "Just most days when I'm doing something as important as this."

Jun's nose scrunched up as he smiled while the rest of his makeup was applied. Yun-ho was dragged off to be given something to wear and Jun slipped off to get changed into his costume.

It was like a blend of his Junliet costume and his The Planets costume. The deep purple was similar to Junliet, but the lace placed over the top was silver or white. The v-neck was like that of The Planets costume, and silver rhinestones were dotted around to punctuate some of the points of the design of the lace. And finally, finally, Jun had managed to get some deep purple gloves instead of the nude ones he usually wore that didn't match his skin tone. On the back of them, there was a heart design made from silver rhinestones, and Jun rubbed his hands together with a smile.

"When did my rival grow up?" Yun-ho's tone was light and teasing as he watched as Jun was led up alongside him to the photography space. "What are we thinking for this?"

"Back to back," the photographer and director said with a smile as they positioned the two men around. "Can you give us the Vogue face? Both of you?"

The pair glanced back at each other and both laughed before they nodded and schooled their features into the iconic Vogue smoulder. The photographers snapped several shots before they adjusted the pair again, giving them pose after pose to do. After the photographs of just the pair of them, to spark the public's interest with the "reunited rivals from Kim Yuna's Kiss and Cry," Jun's eyes widened and he very nearly fainted when the crew brought out Changmin to join them. Yet more poses were suggested and one of the favourites of the crew was where Jun was in a layback Ina Bauer at the front with Yun-ho and Changmin going back-to-back in the background.

"Anymore suggestions for poses, or should we wrap it up there? We have plenty of promotional material but if there's anything specific you guys want to go for, please let us know."

"I think we're good," Yun-ho said with a smile, shaking Jun a little by the shoulders to get a laugh out of him. "What does my little rival think?"

"I think we're good too." Jun looked up at Changmin who nodded, patting him on the head.

"I agree too. Thank you for helping us."

"Thank you very much!"

After changing out of their presented outfits, and after Jun had put his costume carefully back into the bag, they headed back together towards the club so that Jun and Yun-ho could introduce Changmin to Jeffrey. Evgenia very nearly fainted into Jason's arms at the sight of the KPop duo, and Jason toyed with going over to ask for an interview. Their attention was all stolen and their focus utterly broken when they heard an almost inhumane shriek.

"Conrad?" Jun asked, tilting his head like a little puppy. "You okay?"

"Am I okay? Am I okay?!" Conrad whined over dramatically. "Please warn me next time you decide to come to the club in makeup that makes you look that gorgeous."

Jun touched his cheek and laughed when he realised he'd forgotten to take off the makeup put on him during the shoot. But he liked it. He liked the way that the silver eyeshadow and sharp black eyeliner made his eyes look. He liked the way that his skin seemed to glow under the foundation and blusher.

"Maybe I'll wear makeup more often. Just for you. Wear it to prom with you."

Conrad whined but opened up his arms, making space for Jun to dive into them for a cuddle. Changmin and Yun-ho exchanged a look and a silent conversation that they could have after years of reading each other's faces.

Is that the one you were telling me about?

Oh yeah

Looks like a bit of a beanpole

Yun-ho snorted, being quiet so that Jun wouldn't hear him.

You're going to love Yuzuru

With the night of the prom approaching rapidly, Amelia had decided to steal Jun away whenever he wasn't training at the rink so that she could get his advice. Conrad frequently walked over to find Jun and Amelia, or sometimes Yuzuru, Jun, and Amelia, crowded around her phone, chatting through hairstyles and jewellery and other stuff that he had no idea about. At lunch he mostly listened, very occasionally throwing in a comment or two when he actually understood enough about what they were saying.

"The French twist would look really good with your dress," Jun said with a nod. "Do you have any flowers? Or a jewelled hairpiece? You could put that in there and I think it would look amazing! Oooh, a silver one with the lilac of your dress would go so well. What do you think Conrad?"

Conrad glanced up from his phone and shrugged. "What even is a French twist hairstyle?"

Amelia rolled her eyes in an over exaggerated way as she held out her phone to Conrad so that he could have a look at the hairstyle.

"What Jun said," Conrad shrugged. "Hair is so complicated when it comes to you."

"Well, I'm sorry we can't just empty an entire pot of product into our hair like you do and push it up out of our eyes!"

Conrad flushed bright pink both out of embarrassment and irritation, but they lessened when he heard the musical sound of Jun's laughter. Yuzuru came and settled at their table, not saying a word as he opened up his Winnie the Pooh Tupperware boxes with his lunch.

"Yuzuru," Amelia offered him the phone and showed him the pictures of the hairstyle she was going for, "do you think that this would look good?"

"Do you have a picture of the dress?"

Amelia nodded, swiping through her gallery and showing it to Yuzuru. He gave her a soft smile and nodded.

"It'll look great on you. Very good. I hope you have lots of fun at the prom."

"Aw, thank you Yuzuru! Is there anything else I need to think about? We've thought of hair, accessories, perfume, shoes--"

"Why do you need to worry about so many things?" Conrad mumbled, earning a stomp on his foot under the table from Amelia. "What the hell?!"

"I have to worry about so many things to make sure that this is perfect, idiot!"

"But you've already sorted the main thing--"

"And little things can make or break the outfit! Jun, are you going to come with me to get our makeup done before the prom?"

Jun nodded with a smile to rival Yuzuru's at PyeongChang. "Of course! Wouldn't miss it for the world. I'd say Conrad should come with us but he really doesn't need makeup."

Amelia wrinkled her nose. "Sometimes I wonder why he looks like that. And then I remember that he doesn't have a brain."

"Why you--"

"Take lots of pictures, yes?" Yuzuru cut the siblings' argument with his calm tone and gentle authority. "I hope that you'll have lots of fun together."

Jun nodded, excusing himself to go to the bathroom and, as Amelia disappeared inside for her training session, Yuzuru's eyes hardened on Conrad's.

"You make sure that you take care of him or else. I'm not joking Bean-pole. And it won't just be me that you have to watch out for either. Clear?"

"As crystal," Conrad nodded, avoiding Yuzuru's eye contact as he looked down at his instant noodles, made properly this time under Jun's watchful gaze.

"Good." Yuzuru nodded before he left the table too. When he saw Javier, it was like a flip had been switched and he all but leapt into his boyfriend's arms, smiling with that adorable and goofy smile that made Conrad question whether that really was the same man as the one who had just threatened him.

"Getting their makeup done" apparently meant that Jun and Amelia had to get a practice run done too, and so Conrad and his dad had ended up going with them. Amelia had chatted away to her makeup artist, enjoying the entire experience and discussing different brands and the best brands, and other things that Conrad neither knew about nor cared about. What Conrad did care about, was Jun's look. Jun had disappeared behind the wall and his makeup was being done away from Conrad's eyes; Jun claimed that he wanted to surprise him.

"Conrad! I asked you a question!" he rolled his eyes and glanced over a this younger sister. "Should I wear one or two silver bracelets? Or should I wear a couple on each wrist? Or on just one wrist? Or--"

Conrad stopped listening and his breath vanished for a second. Jun emerged from around the corner with the shyest smile on his face. Conrad had seen Jun in makeup before, but it was makeup for promotional things and commercials. He'd never seen him in makeup like this. It was so soft and subtle, keeping everything that was inherently Jun, but it amplified the parts he wanted to promote. His eyes looked bigger, framed by lashes extended by the mascara and with black eyeliner wings. He gave Conrad that shy smile that made his heart go crazy and the butterflies flutter wildly.

"What do you think?"

"I think you look amazing," Conrad finally managed to get out, turning as pink as Amelia's lipstick. "You look so amazing Jun."

Jun slipped his hand into Conrad's. "Good enough to be your prom date?"

"Better than enough. You look phenomenal Jun. Better than any commercial or TV show that you've done. You're honestly amazing. Have I ever told you that?"

"Once or twice," Jun squeezed his hand. "You're amazing too. Don't you worry. I'll make sure that you have the best prom night ever."

"I know I will. I'll have the best prom night ever because I'll be with you for it, and that'll make it the best night ever."

Conrad's dad drove them home and Jun stayed over at Conrad's that night. Conrad didn't even mind that he got absolutely annihilated at Mario Kart; Jun's smiles and laughter were more than worth being attacked by red shells left and right and that one blue shell when he finally managed to sneak into first.

"Just because you're my boyfriend does not mean that you're spared the blue shells." Jun said firmly. "Just like how you shouldn't go easy on me because we're dating."

"I'm not going easy on you! You're just too good!"

Chapter Text

Conrad smoothed down the lapels of his suit and ran a nervous hand through his hair as he looked at himself in the mirror. Jun and his mother, as usual, had been right. The suit looked really good on him and flattered his figure, making him look even taller than he already was. His heart was racing at a million miles a minute and he steeled himself before he headed downstairs where Amelia was waiting.

"Well someone cleans up very well," his dad joked. "You look great kid. As soon as Jun gets here, we'll take some photos of you kids and then drop you off. What sort of time do you want collecting?"

"Midnight probably. The official time is a little later than that, but we are athletes and need to take care of ourselves."

"One night won't hurt you," his mother pointed out when the doorbell rang. "Do you want to answer that, or should I?"

Conrad's father couldn't help but chuckle at his expression and patted his son's arm. "I'll get it."

Amelia gave him a weird look as she adjusted her silver necklace and fiddled with the matching earrings. Quiet talking could be heard outside in the hallway and Conrad unconsciously smoothed down the front of his suit again.

When Jun stepped in, Conrad had to remember how to breathe. He'd seen all the elements, the suit, the shoes, the makeup, separately, but he'd never seen them put together like this. He could easily have been going to a wedding or a photo shoot for a high end fashion magazine. And the best part? Jun was looking at him in exactly the same way.

"You look amazing," Jun whispered as Conrad pulled him into a hug. "Absolutely amazing. I'm so lucky to be able to go to your prom with you."

"I'm the lucky one," Conrad pressed a kiss to his forehead. "You look so incredible Jun. Perfect. You're like a perfect angel."

"Alright!" Conrad's mother ushered them outside so that they could take photos in front of the flowers. "My goodness, don't my babies look so grown up? And Jun, you look amazing too. You could be a model."

Jun and Conrad exchanged a look before they giggled.

"Jun is a model," Conrad pointed out as they let themselves be arranged so that Amelia was in the middle with Jun and Conrad on either side of her. "He's been in Vogue."

"No wonder!" Conrad's mother held up the camera and smiled to the pair of them. "Smile!"

After taking far too many photographs including several silly ones, Conrad had to explain the concept to Jun, the three of them finally piled into the back of the car together. The drive was short and passed even faster when the atmosphere was so light because of all the jokes. Conrad squeezed Jun's hand and they exchanged a smile when they arrived at the hotel that had been booked for the event.

"Have a fun night!" Conrad's dad wished them. "Text me if you want collecting earlier."

"Bye Dad! Thanks for the lift!"

Amelia, Conrad, and Jun all climbed out of the car and Amelia was swept up by her group of friends. The two boys watched them go before they exchanged a laugh and went off to find a photographer to snap photographs of them together outside the hotel, in front of the archway of flowers that had been set up specifically for them and their group. After taking multiple photographs together, Conrad's friends soon found them and brought the pair of them inside, bringing them to the table in the corner that they had snagged for themselves. Jun struggled to keep up with the flow of the conversation but he never felt left out; Conrad kept holding onto his hand under the table and he squeezed it with a smile as glasses were placed on the table in front of them.

"Champagne?" Jun raised an eyebrow at Conrad. "Didn't you say that this was a school event?"

"Cheers," Conrad clinked his champagne flute against Jun's. "We're the old ones so we're allowed alcohol. People Amelia's age have to settle for sparkling water or lemonade.

"In Korea we don't say cheers," Jun tapped his glass against Conrad's with a little smile. "Geonbae."

"Geonbae," Conrad tapped his back before they both took a sip. "What does it mean?"

"It means empty glass," Jun took another sip, enjoying the bubbly feeling. "So I guess it's like when I heard Brian say bottoms up. I thought he was talking about when I fall on my jumps!"

Conrad snorted, trying not to choke on his champagne as he burst out laughing. "You're too funny sometimes Jun, you really are."

They sipped at their drinks as Conrad's friends enveloped them in the conversation. Most of them wanted to talk to Jun, not because he was a famous figure skating star or anything but so that they could hear the funny stories about Conrad that happened on the ice that he wouldn't tell them about. Jun felt a warmth bubble in his tummy when he managed to make the entire table fall about laughing when he told them about the time Conrad tried to do a flying camel spin and ended up splatting straight into the wall right in front of Yuzuru who just wrinkled his nose at him in disgust.

"Conrad, man, you really need to tell us these things, or you need to let us talk to Jun more!" one of his best friends laughed and slapped his shoulder. "He's great!"

"So, what's it like in Korea?" One of them asked. "Not to be rude, but is it like, scary scary threats of nuclear war all the time?"

Jun shook his head. "Nah, it's a lot calmer than that actually. KPop and skincare! I guess I don't really worry too much about the North? We consider them South Korean too, especially after the joint team competed in PyeongChang." he joked, earning yet more laughter from around the table. "Conrad hasn't been to Korea yet, so I really need to bring him with me."

"Make sure you guys take lots of pictures," another nodded.

"Didn't you compete at the Olympics Jun?"

"Yep!" Conrad answered for him while someone refilled their champagne glasses. "Came in fifteenth even though he was the youngest competitor and he had the pressure of competing in his home country and he had like no senior international experience!"

Jun whined, covering his blush with his hands as the rest of the table cooed at him in awe.

"Conrad!"

"Am I not allowed to be proud?" Conrad looped an arm around his shoulder and gave him a cuddle.

"Conrad is a sap!" One of his friends laughed and it was Conrad's turn to flush bright pink.

They all raised their glasses around the circular table and, with a mix of cheers and geonbae, clinked the flutes together. They chattered some more, with Conrad's friends trying to coax more funny stories out of Jun, before their meals were served up. After they had finished the three courses, with yet more champagne to accompany it, Conrad pulled Jun to his feet and, with a little liquid courage from the alcohol and his friends cheering him on, they headed to the dance floor. Music from the noughties was playing and Conrad looped his arm around Jun as they swayed together, surrounded by other people from Conrad's high school.

"Thanks for coming with me tonight," Conrad glanced down at Jun, who had his head resting on the other's shoulder. "I've really really enjoyed it."

"Me too," Jun's beam was so bright in the darkness. "It's amazing!"

When they got tired of dancing and Jun claimed to not know the song, despite Conrad protesting that everyone and their grandmother knew Payphone, they headed out for a walk in the gardens around the hotel. The sun was dipping just below the horizon, sending out rays of gold over the world, and they stood beside the lake together with Conrad holding Jun by his waist while they looked out over it together.

"This has been so amazing," Conrad pressed a kiss to Jun's cheek. "You've made it amazing."

"Me?" Jun looked up at him before he leaned his head on the other's shoulder. "I haven't made it amazing. You've made it amazing. Thank you, Conrad, thank you so much for bringing me and letting me experience this."

"My pleasure." Conrad chewed his lip before he squeezed Jun's side. "Jun, what

are we?"

"Figure skaters?"

"No, I mean you're right, but what are we? Who are we?"

Jun frowned at him. "Conrad Orzel and Cha Jun Hwan?"

"No, I mean, are we boyfriends?"

Jun cupped Conrad's cheek and pressed his forehead against the other's. "I thought so. We've kissed and held hands and done boyfriend things."

"That's what I thought," Conrad nodded before he leaned forwards to capture Jun's lips in a soft, chaste kiss. "Just wanted to be sure we were on the same page."

They stayed there, holding each other close as the sun went down in the background. When it finally got dark and it began to get colder, they went back inside hand in hand. Jun groaned the moment he heard the first notes of the song.

"No! Oh my God no!"

"It's nostalgic!" Conrad laughed as his friends tugged them both over to the dance floor. "And everyone knows the dance. It's like the only KPop dance everyone knows."

"Gangnam Style does NOT count as KPop!" Jun protested, rubbing at his forehead. "And you guys have no idea what he's saying, do you?"

"Don't care. It's got a good beat!"

"Conrad, it's literally satire! It's him talking about the Gangnam district in Seoul!" Jun groaned and shook his head as he was forced into the dance. "It's about how it's all nice and pretty during the day and then crazy at night, and then it's like that but put into a girl!"

"Still got a good beat!" Conrad pointed out with a little shrug and a laugh. "Oppa Gangnam Style!"

Jun facepalmed. "That means--"

"Shhh," Conrad took Jun's hands and guided a very unamused Jun through the dance. "Just relax and have fun!"

"I'll have more fun when you don't play crappy music like this." Jun grumbled. "Don't care how nostalgic it is. There's so much better KPop that you guys could play, like anything else!"

"Alright you little BTS fanboy," Conrad poked him in the side. "Just let us enjoy the only KPop we know."

"God, you're so repressed when it comes to KPop here." Jun teased before he finally started to do the dance, much to Conrad's amusement. "The dance isn't even good!"

"Yeah but it's easy enough for us to pick up on so that's why we like it."

Jun only did the rest of the dance to amuse Conrad but the joke turned on him when he found out that Jun knew all the words to Chandelier and could really sing. The entire hall just stared at Jun in a mix of awe and confusion when they saw him and Conrad dancing and Jun was singing.

"They're all staring at you," Conrad whispered and Jun hid his face in the other's shoulder.

"Alright alright," one of Conrad's best friends came up to them and gave Conrad a firm look, "how on earth have you managed to get yourself a boyfriend who is gorgeous, a really talented skater, an actor, and can sing like that? It's not fair! Jun, you're so cool! You've got to come and hang out with us again sometime!"

"Sure!" Jun smiled, squeezing Conrad's hand as the group left the hall and met up with Amelia who was waiting outside. "I'd love to. But first, skating."

"First, we're going back to mine and we're going to sleep," Conrad corrected before he gave Amelia a smile. "Good evening?"

"Amazing evening!" She lit up and started to babble at him, not that he was really listening. He was focused instead on Jun who had his arm around him and was cuddling up to his side. "It was so much fun! Did you guys have fun?"

"We did," Conrad nodded, pressing a kiss to Jun's forehead. "We really did."

Chapter Text

"Did you know that you can draw a smiley face with the freckles on your cheeks and your dimples?"

Yuzuru snorted but was unable to hide his smile. Javier lit up and poked at his cheek, right over the dimple and then pressed a kiss to it.

"See! Right there! Your cheek is smiling as well as your mouth and eyes!"

"Dork," Yuzuru shook his head at him but pulled Javier into a cuddle. "Dorky dorky dork. You're such a dork."

"But I'm your dork."

Yuzuru nodded, resting his head on Javier's shoulder as Effie climbed up onto his lap. He ran his fingers through her fur, enjoying her purring as he scratched just behind her ears where she liked it. She curled up on his lap, acting almost like a hot water bottle against his abdomen.

"How was training?"

"Good," Yuzuru mumbled rather than spoke. Not being in the most talkative mood, Javier understood when he didn't really want to speak that much but would prefer to listen. "How was coaching today?"

"Good," Javier stroked Yuzuru's hair idly off his forehead, "although I do have a little girl who is determined she's going to learn a quad sal before she becomes a junior. Brian and I are adamant that she isn't going to learn it but we keep catching her trying it behind our backs. She reminds me of someone."

"Hey!" Yuzuru protested lightly. "Don't be mean! I never did quads--... I never did a quad sal when Brian said not to."

"That's a lie and a half," Javier chuckled but squeezed his waist. "Other than having a crazy little girl try quads, everything is pretty good. I'm so proud of all of them though! I can't wait until I can take these guys to their junior competitions too."

"You're a great coach," Yuzuru poked Javier's cheek. "Hey! You have dimples too! Or, you have one."

"No I don't!"

"Do too!" Yuzuru poked his cheek again until Javier faux swatted his hand away. "You do! You're just pretending you don't!"

"I'm not pretending anything. I just need to go and start making dinner otherwise you'll complain even more."

"No bell pepper and no paprika!" Yuzuru called after him as Javier disappeared into the kitchen, leaving him and Effie on the sofa.

She looked up at him with her big eyes before she stood up, resting her front paws on Yuzuru's chest so that it was like she was looking at him face to face. Yuzuru held her and cooed at her, giving little kisses to her nose. He took his medication every day so that he could live with her and his asthma wouldn't act up. Even though he detested choking down the pills, it was still more than worth it so that he could cuddle his and Javier's cute fur baby.

"Hi Effie-chan," he cooed, stroking the fur behind her ears as she purred and nuzzled his hand. "How are you, pretty kitty? I hope you had fun today! You love being away from me and Javi, don't you? You love having the house to yourself to play about in, don't you? What fun did you get up to today, and--"

"Yuzuru Hanyu." Yuzuru froze with Effie still in his hands. "Why is there an empty can of the tuna cat food in the recycling? I thought we said that she was to eat the dry food, and I know I didn't feed her the tuna."

"Um," Yuzuru didn't look up from Effie. "She gave me those eyes Javi! I couldn't say no!"

"Yuzuru, come on! I can resist the eyes!"

"I can't! Look at them! She's so cute and fluffy and adorable and she deserves the best food which is tuna, not that crappy dried stuff!"

"Yuzuru, she needs to eat the dried food. No feeding her more tuna."

"But Javi!"

"No feeding her more tuna, or I'll feed you bell peppers and paprika."

Yuzuru looked down at the cat in his lap. She purred, nuzzling his hand before she looked up at him with her big wide eyes.

"Sorry Effie-chan. I love you, but I'm also very selfish sometimes. No more tuna until I know Javi won't sneak me bell peppers and paprika."

"Meow!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry."

"Javi might still sneak you bell peppers and paprika you know."

"Hey!" Yuzuru pouted at him in that over dramatic fashion. "If Javi does that, he'll have to treat his Yuzu to hot chocolate and a movie night to make it up to him!"

The skaters trained, like normal, at the club, even as the shows got ever nearer and the debut of the collaboration drew closer still. Jun was spending the days polishing up his choreography with Jeff while the others practiced their exhibitions. Sure, the show was a fun event but that didn't mean that they shouldn't work hard and try to put on a good show. And, with the excitement and hype from the fans, Jun really didn't want to let anyone down.

Conrad decided that enough was enough one day.

"This is an intervention." Jun looked up from where he was untying his laces and Conrad was standing above him. "You. Me. When you're done taking care of your skates, we're going for coffee. Impromptu date."

"But I need to--"

"Jun," Conrad sat down beside him and bumped shoulders with him, "I can't possibly understand what's going on in your head with all the pressure. I could never understand the pressure that comes with being the best in your country. But I can understand that you need a break from your thoughts for now."

"But I have to train the skate and--"

"Competitions and exhibitions are mental too. If you're not in the right place in your head, you won't be in the right place when you perform. Come on."

When Jun was done cleaning off his blades and had put them in his case, he and Conrad left the club together and stepped out into Toronto. They took the subway into the middle of the city and blended in with the rest of the people walking around. Conrad reached out and they linked their pinkie fingers together with a smile, enjoying the blush that spread out across his nose and cheeks as he tugged him into a coffee shop and they hid away in the corner.

"Thanks for taking me out," Jun said quietly into his tea before he scooped up some of the cake that Conrad had ordered for him onto his fork. "You're right that I need this."

"I'm always right," Conrad joked but he took Jun's free hand on the table and squeezed it with a more serious smile. "Listen, if you ever feel like everything is getting hard or bad or something, just tell me, okay? And we can do another one of these so that you can have a break."

"You're the best," Jun offered Conrad a forkful of the rich chocolate cake that he had given him. "Try some?"

It was rich and smooth, and the chocolate was delicious. The cake was light and moist, and the chocolate creamy frosting in between the layers made the whole thing taste divine.

"That's so good," Conrad agreed before he sipped at his own latte. "I'll have to order that next time."

"I'll try the orange and lemon one next time," Jun gave him a smile and Conrad's stomach did several quads.

"There you go!"

Jun blinked at him, sipping at his tea. "There I go what?"

Conrad reached over and poked Jun's cheek. "Your dimples are back!"

Jun blinked at him a couple of times before he raised a hand and touched his cheek. "My dimples? Oh! My bojogae!"

"Is that the Korean for dimples?" Jun nodded and Conrad reached over to poke his cheek affectionately again. "In Polish they're dołeczki. And in French they're la fossette."

"Dołeczki," Jun repeated with the most adorable accent that Conrad had ever heard. "And la fossette? Can you teach me more French and Polish words?"

"If you agree to teach me Korean," Conrad laughed and Jun nodded eagerly.

"Wait a second. What do my dimples have to do with coming here?"

Conrad moved his hair out of his eyes and off his face, meeting Jun's own sparkling ones with his honey coloured eyes.

"I've seen you genuinely smile before," Conrad explained, "and, when you do, you get these adorable little dimples in your cheeks that I just want to squish. But, when you force your smile, you don't see your dimples. For the past week or so now I haven't seen your dimples."

"Oh," was all Jun could say and he looked down into his cup, swirling it around idly, "You really noticed something as small as that?"

"The small details are my favourite things about you." Conrad confessed. "Like how you stick out your tongue a little when you're deciding which spin to practice, or the way that you click your blade guards together twice before you leave them on the bench, or the order that you eat lunch in. It's the cute little things that make you Jun my boyfriend instead of Jun Hwan Cha that the world knows."

Jun scrunched up his nose in happiness and squeezed Conrad's hand. "You always know what to say. How? Are you magic?"

"I wish," Conrad lifted up Jun's hand and pressed a kiss to it. "Feeling better?"

"So much, thank you."

They left the cafe together and headed back towards the subway station so that they could both get back to their homes. On the platform they stood together holding hands for as long as they dared before they separated with a quick kiss when they hoped that no one was watching. Sitting on the train back towards the stop near his home, Jun fiddled with his phone case as the blush burned on his cheeks. He couldn't help but think about the kiss; he could still feel Conrad's lips and his hand on his own. He knew he was all but glowing as he walked back, but he didn't really care. The rest of the evening when he was doing his homework, helping his mother with the washing up, when he was writing down his plan for training the next day, he had a goofy little smile on his face just from the memories, and he was certain that his dimples were visible the whole time.

 Yuzu: How was your date?

Jun: How did you know about that?

Yuzu: Conrad was making faces at you the entire training session. Of course he was going to take you on a date

Jun: It was lovely! So romantic and sweet.

Yuzu: So this is serious?

Jun: Yes. As far as I'm concerned, yes

Yuzu: Alright, I trust you

Yuzu: But if he hurts you, I will not hesitate

Yuzu: I know eight ways to kill a man with my blade guards alone

The thing was: Jun didn't doubt Yuzuru's words in the slightest.

Chapter Text

When the initial photo-shoot was published online, the fans, as expected, went insane. Twitter blew up completely, and soon #TVXQJUN was trending on both it and Instagram. They had to stop accepting things from fans that got dropped off at the club because of the sheer volume of gifts and letters and fans begging for Jun, Yunho, or Changmin to explain what was going on. With the mass of attention gained by it, it was no wonder that the JSF decided to get involved.

"Yuzuru," Brian poked his head out of his office to stop his skater on his way out onto the ice, Pooh tissue box tucked under his arm, "my office for a minute please."

Yuzuru exchanged a look with the newest coach at the club and passed Javi his tissue box. "Look after him please, until I can head out there."

"Have a fun chat."

Javier patted his shoulder and, in that moment when he was holding Yuzuru's pooh tissue box as well as a towel and water bottle in his arms, he looked like the most natural coach in the world. Yuzuru had to force himself to look away and he followed Brian into the office. He raised an eyebrow at Mrs Kobayashi's appearance as well as another, he assumed, member of the JSF as well as a translator who were sitting at the desk. Yuzuru slipped into his seat beside them and looked at Brian with curious eyes.

"So, Hanyu-senshu," Mrs Kobayashi was the first to speak, talking to him in Japanese as the translator relayed all that was said to Brian, "we have seen the promotional material one of your training mates has produced recently in relation to their exhibition skate and the upcoming shows they are participating in."

"You mean Jun?"

She nodded and kept talking. "The Japanese Skating Federation, in conjunction with the hosts of several ice shows, has decided, given the popularity of this and the buzz created for the shows by this shoot, that you should participate in several too. The details and a contract will be drawn up for you and Orser-san to go over and sign. This meeting is to determine the initial plans and lay down the initial pointers that the contract can be written around."

Yuzuru and Brian exchanged a look before Yuzuru spoke up.

"As always, if anything is to happen my family must be kept out of it and must not be bothered. I would like full details prior to the events so that I can be properly prepared. Allergies to particular brands of skin products should be noted so that no makeup I am allergic to is used. How would it be structured?"

"We were thinking of having photo-shoots promoting each of the skates that you are intending to perform in the shows, and potentially some for the upcoming season. Since you always have such... vibrant costumes, they would make for good focus for a photograph."

Yuzuru nodded along to her words and, after they had been translated for him, Brian nodded too.

"I would like for a contract to be sent to one of my contacts," Yuzuru's tone was polite but had the firm background that Mrs Kobayashi knew all too well: the one where he was ready to put his foot down and refuse to sign a contract, "so that they can check over it prior to renegotiation and signing. And I would also like for my mother to be invited to the contract signing."

"That can be arranged. Thank you for your time, Hanyu-senshu, Orser-san."

"Not at all," Brian gave them the smile that Yuzuru knew meant "please just let me teach my skaters"; it came around most often on media day.

When they left, Yuzuru sighed and Brian rolled his eyes. Both of them exchanged a laugh before they headed out towards the ice together.

A couple of days later, the JSF really did work fast, Yuzuru, Brian, and Yuzuru's mother were sitting in a conference room along with a pair of officials who hosted the ice shows Yuzuru was participating in as well as a translator for Brian; he didn't need to be there but Yuzuru wanted him there mostly for support. They read over the contract, amending sections and clarifying clauses. Yuzuru frowned when he got to one of the lines and he read over it three times.

"Is there a problem, Hanyu-senshu?" One of the officials asked when he reached into his bag for his glasses, reading over it again.

"Sorry, I might be mis-interpreting this." Yuzuru chewed on the inside of his lip. "You'd like a photo-shoot with the other skaters at the club?"

"If they agree to it. The ISU heard about the idea and thought it would be good to promote the sport using different skaters from different clubs, and, as they caught wind of our plans to already do a photo-shoot, they requested that one be done with all the skaters. Contracts will be sent to each of them individually."

"And they will be able to negotiate this term, no?"

The officials exchanged a look. "Brown-senshu has signed it already, Medvedeva-senshu requested more time to check over it, and Cha-senshu has sent it to Korea to be checked. If there are problems, the federations will deal with them and then the contracts will be sent back out to the skaters for them to check over and sign."

"Remove the clause from this contract then, as that is a separate project," Yuzuru requested and, reluctantly, they did so. After reading over the rest of it, Yuzuru and Brian both penned their signatures.

A few weeks after, several of the Toronto Cricket Curling and Skating Club skaters ended up in the back of JSF provided cars, since they took their skaters' safety very seriously, and they headed towards the location for the shoot. They'd been told to bring any old costumes that they wanted with them, much to the poor driver's displeasure when they saw Yuzuru carrying all of his senior costumes that his mother had altered for him. On sight, Jason and Zhenya all but bounced around as they were lead into the dressing rooms and told to prepare. Jason snorted with laughter at the polar opposites that were Jun and Yuzuru having their makeup done; Jun sat there good as gold while Yuzuru wriggled and squirmed about. After finally getting changed into "a costume of their choice", they were then lead out in front of the green screen.

Jason looked like a rich young man about to head out for a fancy meal in his Hamilton costume, and it looked fantastic with his hair shorter and the curls piled atop his head. Evgenia had chosen her Memoirs of a Geisha costume but she had her hair loose this time, spilling around her shoulders in waves of coppery brown. Jun had chosen his first The Fire Within costume, the one with lace accents decorating the front rather than the one with the open back.

"No one is going to see my back," he explained when Jason had asked him about it.

Yuzuru looked the best in the others' opinions. He'd chosen Origin, the first version of Origin, the one where he looked like a phoenix with burnt wings interweaved with ribbons of gold. His hair had been carefully styled rather than shoved back with the mess of gel that he'd used for competitions and he looked almost like a super villain with his dark eyes framed with eyeliner and mascara.

"Right," one of the officials adjusted them around, "Yuzuru, Jason, we'd like you two to be more central. Evgenia, you'll go on Jason's other side, actually no. Evgenia and Yuzuru, you two go in the middle with your darker costumes. Yes, that looks better. Jason, you go on Evgenia's other side. Jun, you go over on Yuzuru's other side. Okay great! Smiles please!"

All used to this sort of thing, having done it several times before, they posed and smiled as they were meant to. They were adjusted several times before they took a five minute break so that the officials could get some props.

"What do you think they'll make us pose with?" Jason asked.

"No idea," Evgenia smiled. "Can't be any worse than a hammer that they gave me."

Yuzuru raised an eyebrow at her. "At least I got to pick my own outfits this time."

"No more white suits for chewing gum adverts," Jun teased. "Honestly, I sound like I've had it best. Vogue was lovely--"

"Yeah yeah, our baby has been in Vogue," Jason ruffled his hair, "no need to rub it in."

"Here we are," the group looked up as the organisers walked in. "For Evgenia," they handed her a hand-held fan. "For Jason," they gave him a little American flag to hold, earning a chuckle from the group. "For Jun," they gave him a delicate hairpin made of silver flowers and white pearls that complimented his costume, and Yuzuru helped him to pin it in his hair, "and for Yuzuru."

They presented Yuzuru with a glittering black and gold crown, and Jason and Evgenia helped to secure it on him. With their added accessories, their poses were then more stylised. The crew complimented them over and over again and, when the main shoot was done, Yuzuru did a few extra shots for them in his different costumes that Evgenia, Jason, and Jun all stayed behind to watch. The best one was him in Seimei with a fan; it was something that the fans had been clamouring for since they had seen him playing with one in the gala at PyeongChang.

When all was said and done, they headed back towards the club exhausted but satisfied so that the could collect everything that they had left with Brian. Javier smiled at Yuzuru as he stepped out of the club and climbed into the car beside him, getting a kiss to his cheek from both Javi and Pooh-san.

"How was it?" Javier asked and Yuzuru rolled his eyes. "You've still got makeup on."

"It was as you'd expect. Can't be as bad as your lobster one, but it was exhausting, you know?"

Javier chuckled, cupping Yuzuru's cheek and giving him a proper kiss. "Too exhausted for dinner and then watching a movie cuddling our cat and each other?"

"I'm never too exhausted for that." Yuzuru flopped back in his seat as Javier started the car and they set off, heading towards their apartment. "Oh, they gave me a prop to keep actually. It's a bit silly."

Javier raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. "Oh?"

"It's a crown."

Javier laughed to himself. "Of course it is."

The photo-shoot was published and social media once again blew up. Art was made and sold along with Origin inspired crowns and jewellery, Evgenia inspired handheld fans, and Jun Hwan Cha inspired hair pins. Javier couldn't help but laugh as he scrolled through Twitter, pausing as he considered the Masquerade inspired necklace that came up. He bookmarked it for later; it would look very good on Laura after all. Maybe he'd get it for her as a birthday present.

Conrad, too, scrolled through Instagram, looking as it exploded with art and jewellery. The designs made him smile immensely and he paused on one of them: a simple yet elegant purple necklace that had been designed around Junliet. He considered for a moment before he scrolled down and burst out laughing. Right below it on the page was a silver crown with white pearls in it designed around The Fire Within. He did bookmark that one, just in case he wanted to come back and get it.

Chapter Text

"It's so weird to have real idols around the rink with us," Evgenia mused as she pretended to scroll through Instagram, not too subtly looking over her shoulder to all but stare at Yun-ho and Changmin, "I know they're friends with you Jun, but it's so cool having real idols here! Can you invite Namjoon next time? And all of BTS since I know you love Jimin."

"Shush!" Jun groaned and covered his face with a whine. "I love Yun-ho-hyung the most, but don't tell him that! And I didn't exactly ask them to come. They just came over. Not that I'm sad about that. I love having them over. Yun-ho is like a big brother to me."

Evgenia ruffled his hair and laughed. "Only Jun Hwan Cha would be able to say that a Korean Idol is like his big brother. Only you."

"I'm surprised you're so shocked though Zhenya," Jason leaned against the wall with a hum, "since we train with a figure skating idol pretty much every day."

The three of them looked through the windows from the lounge out onto the ice. Yuzuru was standing with his hands on his hips and a very evident pout as he argued with Brian, probably about doing the quad axel, and Javier tried not to laugh in the background for the sake of keeping his boyfriend happy. When the student and coach were finally done arguing, Yuzuru skated off around the rink and they could feel Brian's hair coming out when they saw him launch from a forward entry into one, two, three, four, four and a half rotations, and land with an almighty splat on the ice. Jun snickered, biting his lip to try and stop the laughter. Javier was a weaker man and he was cackling as he helped Yuzuru to his skates, brushing the ice chips off the other as he ended up on the receiving end of the almighty pout. Not even cheek kisses, forehead kisses, or Pooh-san kisses could get Yuzuru to stop pouting, and it was only Brian letting him practice his quad lutz that got him to crack a smile again.

"Oh yeah," Jun rolled his eyes fondly, "he's the figure skating idol. I forget that when he's pouting because he fell on his backside on a quad axel attempt again."

Jason elbowed him lightly but the three all laughed amongst themselves, clearing up their snacks before they headed back out to the ice too, ready to train again. Muttering something about sending reckless adults back to Japan, Brian watched over them as the seniors trained together, with Jason keeping his eyes on Yuzuru's quad sal and Jun trying his quad flips on the harness again and again, trying to get them right under Ghislain's watchful eye as the jump coach. As he started to get more frustrated, Ghislain beckoned him to come over.

"It's looking better each time you do it. I think you need to have a little more faith in yourself that you can do the quad flip. Maybe we should try it again at the Autumn Classic so that it's a relatively small stakes competition if you fall on it."

Jun nodded, brushing his hair out of his eyes and Ghislain patted him on the shoulder.

"I think that's enough jump training for you for now. Go on over to Paige and do some spin training. I know you want to try that original JunBug position again."

They both laughed together before Jun headed over and started to work on his spins, including the position that was like the catchfoot spin and the Yuna Kim spin in one. Spins helped him to focus. In jumps, he had to be aware of his air position and other people and his takeoff edges and his final rotation. In the spin, keeping centred took a lot of his focus and meant that he could tune out everything else, honing in on his position on the ice. In what felt like almost no time at all, his session was coming to a close and he joined the others as well as Tracy in a cool down, stretching out as they did stroking exercises to end the session.

Jun sat on the bench next to Yuzuru, cleaning off his boots and blades meticulously before he put on the raccoon shaped soakers that his mother had made for him. Yuzuru gave a small laugh when he saw them, but he had Haru yo Koi themed soakers on his own so he couldn't really talk.

"You alright?" Yuzuru's tone was light and gentle, as it always was when he spoke to someone younger than him or he was trying to comfort them.

"Oh, me? Yeah, I'm good Yuzu. How are you?"

"So much kuyashii," Yuzuru glared at his blades as he finished cleaning them off. "So much. Quad axel is really not behaving."

"But you feel yourself getting closer, right? I mean, that last one you only put your hand down and didn't fall. That's a huge step in the right direction!"

Yuzuru nodded but didn't look totally convinced. They were silent together for a moment.

"You don't have to say you're alright if you're not." Yuzuru said finally, not looking up from where he was studying his blades.

Jun's head snapped up and he opened and closed his mouth several times before he let out a sigh. "I'm not--"

"I can tell. What's on your mind?"

Jun chewed on his lip. "Online some people have been calling me the figure skating idol of Korea. And I don't think I can handle the pressure that a title like that can bring. How do you manage to be the world's figure skating idol?"

"I don't." Yuzuru said simply, still studying his blades and not looking up. "I am not the world's figure skating idol. I'm the challenger. I am not the champion, not the idol, not the winner before the competition has begun. I am me, and the best version of me is all I can aspire to be. I cannot aspire to be another. You cannot aspire to be another. You said it yourself, didn't you? Yuzu is Yuzu and Jun is Jun."

Jun nodded, chewing on the inside of is cheek, and Yuzuru poked his cheek with a gentle smile.

"It's alright to feel insecure at times. It's alright to feel like you can't do it. But really, I would tell you to talk to Brian about what you're feeling. Brian and Tracy can help you more than I can really explain. They're the best. They managed to help me get ready for PyeongChang, even after my injury. They helped me to feel better after Boston. They can help you too. And so can your friends, like the bean-pole and Yun-ho."

Jun hugged Yuzuru with one arm and the other ruffled his hair gently.

"Thanks Yuzu."

"You don't need to thank me Jun. Now go on, have fun. I've heard you're meant to be having fun tonight, right?"

Jun nodded, giggling. "Yep! Somehow Yun-ho-hyung managed to talk me and Conrad into going with him and Changmin for karaoke. Don't ask me how they managed to do that, but they did, so that's what we're doing tonight."

"Have fun," Yuzuru laughed to him and gave him a wave as Jun left the room.

Jun and Conrad met up with each other in the foyer of the club and embraced when the two KPop idols stepped in and gave them both a smile.

"Shall we?"

They walked together down the streets of Toronto, with some body guards following on behind to make sure that they didn't get attacked by insane fans, and they followed Conrad towards the karaoke cafe. The owner raised an eyebrow at them when they asked for a room but just nodded and led them into one where the four of them settled down together with Jun and Conrad on one side of the table and the KPop duo on the other side. The younger pair started flicking through the pages of the song books while the older pair ordered soft drinks and some snacks.

"So, who's going first then?" Changmin looked between Jun and Conrad, and Jun all but threw the microphone at Conrad.

"Me?!" Jun gave Conrad puppy dog eyes, softening Conrad. He groaned and started to flip through the pages of the song book, trying to pick a good one to sing in front of his boyfriend and a pair of KPop idols. "Um, okay, let me find a nice song--"

Yun-ho reached over and took the book out of Conrad's hands. "It's no fun if you choose for yourself. Let us pick for you."

Jun patted Conrad's back sympathetically, and Conrad only groaned further when the bright guitar riff of the start of Shut Up and Dance started to play through after the older pair had entered the number for it. Deciding he was already going to embarrass the living daylights out of himself, he kept his eyes closed the whole time he sang, mostly so that he didn't have to see Jun's reaction. When he was done, Jun applauded him while the other two exchanged a look.

"You get a C+" Yun-ho was pretty blunt about it.

"Okay, but not great. Passable. Just."

"Thanks?" Conrad questioned as he reached over and sipped at his glass of lemonade, setting the microphone down on the table. "One of you guys go next."

"Why don't they both go?" Jun suggested as he took the book. "I know I saw one of your songs in here somewhere. And there's another microphone under the screen."

Changmin got the other microphone as Yun-ho picked up the one off the table.

"What song are you thinking?"

"You know exactly what song I'm picking."

Jun entered the code and both Yun-ho and Changmin smiled to each other as the opening notes of Catch Me! started to play and the words came up on the screen. Even though Conrad didn't understand all of what was being said, he couldn't help but love the performance that the pair somehow managed to give. It was like they were on stage performing to millions of fans, not in a tiny room in a karaoke place in Toronto performing for two figure skaters that they were chaperoning on a date. Jun was starry eyed and looked every bit like the fanboy that he was, not that Conrad would ever tease him about that. All too soon for him, the performance was over, and both the boys applauded when Yun-ho passed the microphone to Jun.

"I can't sing!" Jun protested, trying to push it away. The two idols were having none of it and pushed it right back at him.

"Yes you can," Yun-ho said, giving an encouraging smile. "You can. I know you can. Would your rival lie to you about something like this?"

Jun shook his head and, very tentatively, he picked up the microphone. Conrad recognised the opening chords of the song; the last time he'd heard it, Jun had been wearing a blue shirt decorated with silver sparkles instead of his soft Gucci jumper. Jun reached for his hand under the table, squeezing it as he took a deep breath and started to sing.

Conrad was shaken to the core. He'd only heard Jun sing once before and, if figure skating, modelling, and acting didn't work, he had a voice more than good enough to be an idol like Yun-ho and Changmin. His voice was so soft, so gentle, and his singing was as emotional as his skating; even with the language barrier, Conrad could understand what the song was about. Yun-ho was smiling at him like a proud father looking at their child, and Changmin just looked impressed. Jun had his eyes closed and a pale pink blush was spread over his nose and cheeks out of shyness. Time didn't feel like it passed during the song. It felt like Conrad was in another world ad, when the song ended, the spell was finally broken and he was allowed back to reality.

"Wow," was all Conrad could get out when Yun-ho and Changmin started applauding.

"Told you he could sing," Yun-ho was a little smug as he spoke to the other. "My eternal rival is multi-talented."

They went through several more rounds, including one where Yun-ho and Changmin made Jun and Conrad sing Barbie Girl, before they finally paid the tab and left, parting ways at the crossroads. Conrad squeezed Jun's hand and pressed a kiss to his cheek with a smile.

"You sing beautifully, by the way," he told him, "I mean it. Best voice I've ever heard, but don't tell them that."

"You're just saying that."

"I'm not." Conrad promised. "I'm not. You sound better than any idol in the world."

Jun's nose scrunched up in a smile and he pressed a kiss to Conrad's cheek before he went into his house, stopping by the door to wave goodbye to him.

Chapter Text

"You've not been to my house in Canada yet, have you?"

Yun-ho shook his head in response. Jun gave him a smile and took hold of his hand.

"You're coming round then with me for dinner then tonight! No complaining! My mother invited you so you can't say no to her, can you?"

"I can't say no to either of you," Yun-ho pinched his cheek with a laugh, "but alright. Train hard and I'll come and meet you at the end, alright?"

Jun nodded and gave him a little hug before he disappeared into the club with his case and skates. Yun-ho couldn't help but watch him go with a fond smile; his little rival who had been an adorable troublemaker on Yuna Kim's Kiss and Cry had grown up to be an amazing athlete and a very polite young man.

Jun's training time seemed to fly by, and it was like he blinked at the start and was teleported to the end of his session. Before he really knew it, he was doing his cool down with Tracy and was cleaning off his skates and blades before he put them away in his bag. He all but vibrated with excitement as he waved to everyone in the club, wishing them a good day off before he bounced out. Yun-ho was where he said he would be, waiting on the stairs outside the club with a brotherly smile for Jun. He offered to take one of Jun's bags for him but the younger declined, pulling them towards his mother's car and loading them in the back.

"Hi Yun-ho," she said with a bright smile as he climbed into the passenger seat and Jun climbed into the backseat. "Ready to go?"

"Yes Mama," Jun took his training notebook from his bag and jotted down a couple of extra points from his session.

"Good training session at the rink?"

"Yeah, Ghislain said that my quads look better. Much better rotation too. And he said that the quad flip is becoming so much better each time I try it. More stable and easier for me. I think I might include it next season, not just at the Autumn Classic but at Grand Prix events if it goes well."

"Reaching for the stars," She laughed, turning off the road and down towards the backstreets and suburbs with their Canadian home on it. "Maybe you should have kept your old exhibition skate, since there seems to be nothing holding you back anymore."

Yun-ho burst out laughing and ruffled Jun's hair. "My eternal rival was destined to take on the world, and he's taking it by storm."

"You're embarrassing me!" Jun whined and both his mother and Yun-ho exchanged a smile.

"Jun, I've seen you embarrass yourself in more ways than even you remember," his mother's tone was gentle and teasing. "You don't have to worry about Yun-ho doing it, especially not in front of me."

"You're still embarrassing me!" Jun whined.

All it took to get him to stop whining was a few choice words into YouTube and he groaned, covering his face when he heard the familiar opening notes of A Whole New World came from his phone. He didn't need to look to know that Yun-ho was playing that clip of him and Ji-hee Jin skating, if they could really use the term skating, around on the ice in their Aladdin costumes.

"Please stop." Jun asked, covering his face with his hands as Yun-ho held his phone higher to let Jun see it better. "I've seen it enough times. Please stop. Pretty please."

"But it's so fun!" Yun-ho couldn't help but laugh as they all climbed out of the car and Jun got his skates out too. "You live here in Canada?"

"It's not much," Jun shrugged as he gestured for the older to go ahead of him, "but it's my other home. And--"

"It looks lovely." Yun-ho reassured him before he let out a scream.

From the door that Jun's mother had left half open, ready for her son and Yun-ho to follow her in, a raccoon emerged and started bouncing towards them. Yun-ho all but dived behind Jun as the younger let go of the handle of his skate case to scoop the creature up into his arms, pressing a little kiss to its furry head.

"Jun! What the hell is that?!"

Jun blinked at Yun-ho in confusion before he and the raccoon both exchanged a look. Holding it like a baby, Jun bounced the animal lightly as he spoke up, tone light and airy.

"This is my baby! His name is Tango, and we're both Libras who like to watch Les Mis, and--"

"You named your raccoon Tango?!"

Jun nodded, holding him out to Yun-ho who let out a shriek and recoiled in horror. "Give him a little kiss on the nose or scratch behind his ears. He likes it!"

"Jun, are you actually kidding me? That's your pet?!"

Jun then blinked at him in confusion again. His raccoon nuzzled against his chest and Jun shifted him in his arms before he took hold of his suitcase, gesturing for Yun-ho to follow him in. They both toed off their shoes at the door as Yun-ho took in the house. It was open plan and pretty simple, with cream walls and lots of large windows that let in the air. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all in one and a soft three piece sofa set was set before a television and gaming system. The dining room table was neat and wooden, and three places were set out. In one corner was a soft little dog bed with a food and water bowl, and Tango crawled out of Jun's arms to run and curl up on the bed.

"So that really is your pet?"

"Of course he is," Jun shook his head with a laugh. "You're still struggling to believe it?"

"Sorry Jun, but normal people don't have a raccoon as a pet."

"Well normal people are boring," Jun hummed indignantly as he headed off to one of the rooms with his skate bag.

Yun-ho followed him and couldn't help but smile at Jun's room. It was very Jun. His bed sheets were dark blue and he had a raccoon shaped plushie sitting on his bed. His books were stacked neatly on his shelves, his clothes were tucked away in his wardrobe that he put his skate suitcase in the bottom of, and he had several succulents that sat on his windowsill. A couple of photo frames were placed on his shelves: one with a picture of him and Conrad in the snow, one with his friends from TCC, one with some of his Korean friends from Nationals, and one with his family when he stayed with them during the time between Nationals and Four Continents. Yun-ho took the chair from by his desk, and Jun settled on his bed.

"Your house is lovely." Yun-ho looked around his room and almost laughed at the string of fairy lights above Jun's bed. "Very you. Very soft aesthetically. But where is your signed TVXQ poster?"

"Oh, that lives in Korea," Jun giggled as he set his phone on to charge. "I didn't want to bring it over and risk it getting damaged, you know?"

"Aww, how thoughtful. But you have got some photos in here and you've got your medals in the cabinet in your main room."

"Oh, yeah, my mother said that I should keep a couple here for motivation. So I've got my Autumn Classic medal and my Skate Canada medal and a medal from Nationals over here with me. One gold, one silver, one bronze, to inspire me. Not quite sure it's working but I want to keep improving and working hard."

"You'll do well. And it adds something to your home you know--"

Yun-ho cut himself off when the door creaked open and Jun smiled, patting the bed next to him for Tango to jump up onto. He scratched behind his raccoon's ears and cooed at him as he cuddled up to his side, letting out content squeaks. Yun-ho just couldn't stop staring at the creature, trying to work out if it was just a joke that Jun was too committed to now to end, or if he actually did have a raccoon as a pet.

"So, what are you thinking for your programmes next season?" Yun-ho finally tore his gaze away from the animal and broke the silence between them.

"Well," Jun paused, filling the gap with a hum as his raccoon rolled over to let him scratch at its belly, "Maybe Black Swan."

"You already did a Black Swan programme didn't you?"

Jun blinked at Yun-ho in confusion before he burst out laughing. "No! I did a swan lake programme, but I meant Black Swan by BTS! Swan lake is kind of overused and I don't really want to flap around on the ice for two or four minutes. And I don't think anyone has used Black Swan yet for a programme."

Yun-ho nodded, chuckling a little. "No TVXQ competitive programme?" He kept his tone light and teasing, and Jun giggled.

"Not if I'm doing it as an exhibition. Maybe in the future sometime." Jun shrugged, pulling Tango onto his lap so that he could cuddle him better. "And I'm thinking I'll maybe do Les Mis for my free?"

"Like the bean-pole," Yun-ho commented idly. "Interesting."

Jun flushed bright pink and hid his blushing face in Tango's fur. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, words muffled by the creature's fur.

"Well, you two did do Romeo and Juliet programmes at the same time. And you had a Shawn Mendez exhibition skate when he had a Shawn Mendez short programme. And then he had a Les Mis programme and you're saying you'd like to do one too?"

"It's my favourite movie," Jun mumbled, petting Tango. "Why wouldn't I want to do a programme to the music from it? And Yuna did a Les Mis programme! What makes you think that I'd want to do it because of Conrad instead of Yuna?"

"Your blush. And who introduced you to the movie, huh? Wasn't Yuna, was it?"

"No... It was Conrad..."

"Knew it!" Yun-ho's triumphant smile was almost worth enduring the teasing. "You want to skate to the same programmes as your boyfriend!"

Jun whined again and was saved from answering by his mother calling them in for dinner. He set Tango down by his own food bowls and the raccoon tucked in, making a little bit of a mess. Jun then helped his mother carry the food to the table and the three sat down together to eat the easy bibimbap that his mother had made. Conversation flowed easily, and it was mostly between his mother and Yun-ho as they discussed what was going on in Korea, what Yun-ho's plans were for the future, how their next album was going, and what he was planning after his music career. The time went easily and, before long, Jun was clearing the table to help out while his mother insisted that Yun-ho shouldn't help and should relax instead because he was the guest. Yun-ho still gave his raccoon a weird look as he settled on the sofa, holding an easy conversation with Jun's mother while the younger did the washing up for her. Yun-ho was mildly shocked when Jun's mother didn't react to Tango climbing up onto her lap. She just stroked him behind the ears and petted his furry head until Jun finished and joined them, scooping up his fur baby in his arms. He bounced him, chipping in with little comments when they added to the conversation. The evening felt so easy and light and, after Jun's mother insisted on dropping Yun-ho off, Jun waved to him in the doorway with his raccoon balanced on his shoulder.

"We should do this again sometime!" Jun laughed. "You should come over for dinner again. This was so much fun, and I know that Tango loved meeting you too."

"Bye Tango," Yun-ho still gave the raccoon a weird look, "and bye Jun. See you soon! And yeah, we should do this again sometime."

Much to Jun's amusement, Tango raised a paw to Yun-ho and it was almost like he was waving goodbye to him too.

Chapter Text

Jun didn't really think anything of it when he entered the club and several of the younger skaters started whispering amongst themselves. It had happened before, particularly when he came back after he'd had a growth spurt, looking less like a squishy child and more like a young adult. So he wasn't too concerned by the whispers. Rumours always flew through the youngsters anyway. Once some of the juniors had found an old pair of his headphones that he'd forgotten to pick up from the bench after training and a rumour had spread that apparently Yuzuru himself had given them to Jun, and they were treated almost as a holy object to the youngsters. During training he could block them out and focus instead on his jumps, his spins, his step sequences, his edges, his skating so he wasn't distracted by them.

So really, Jun wasn't worried about the whispers.

But when he sat down on the bench, taking a five minute break before running his brand new short programme through, he caught Jason and Evgenia whispering to each other, shooting him glances. Enough was enough for Jun.

"What? Everyone has been whispering behind my back today. Why? Am I breaking out? Do I have a spot on my face? Is my shirt on backwards or something?"

"We'll tell you after training," Jason's voice was gentle but held enough concern in it that it made worry blossom in the bottom of Jun's tummy. "Focus for now."

When their break was over, and it was Jun's turn to run through his short, his focus was completely off. Brian just gave him a smile when he popped one quad, fell on the combination, and splatted hard on his axel.

"It's your first time running it through," Brian's voice was kind and understanding in the way that his coach had learnt Jun needed after a rough skate, be it in competition or practice. "The jumps weren't the most important thing to practice here. Your main goal was transferring the choreography from off ice to onto the ice, and you did that. I'm sure when you land the jumps, I know you will land the jumps Jun so don't give me that look, when you land the jumps the skate will look amazing. And you'll definitely have the fans on your side with this one."

"Will the judges like it?"

Brian's smile dropped and he rolled his eyes. "The judges don't like half of what you do anymore. I think if you enjoy yourself and have fun, they'll be more likely to reward that. Don't worry about them right now though. Let's worry about the little choreographic moves and nuances first. Oh, and dare I ask what you're thinking about for your costume for this thing?"

"Oh, it's a black and white one," Jun laughed at Brian's expression, "A proper black and white one. Not a penguin outfit or fake training gear, I promise. I'll send you photos when I've got it, okay?"

"Is it as glittery and rhinestone covered as a Yuzuru costume?"

Jun shook his head, trying to stifle more of his giggles. "There are some rhinestones on it, and I think some sequins too, but not as many as on a Yuzuru costume."

"As long as you won't get a deduction for it, do what you like," Brian almost immediately regretted his words. "Actually don't do that. Please don't do that."

"No take backs!" Jun waved at his coach over his shoulder as he headed towards the gym.

"At least your other skate is Les Mis and you can't make that one too chaotic!"

Jun stopped and looked at his coach over his shoulder. "Brian. I managed to make Romeo and Juliet chaotic, remember?"

"Oh please, it's a story about two over-dramatic teenagers falling in love in the middle of a family feud. It was already chaotic. You just brought the chaos to the ice. Off! Off to the gym with you!"

Jun almost forgot about the whispers when he heard them following him down the corridor towards the gym. When he got in, he firmly closed the door behind him and leaned against it with a sigh.

"You okay?"

Jun looked up and gave Conrad a little nod, all but falling into his arms.

"Just tired." He mumbled into the other's shoulder. "Tired and confused. Everyone keeps whispering around me, and even Jason and Evgenia wouldn't tell me what's going on. Are they planning a surprise party or something?"

"Not that I know of," Conrad frowned. "Unless they're keeping it a secret from me too?"

"Maybe we should ask Jason."

Speaking of the devil, Jason walked into the gym bopping along to the music blasting through his headphones. He didn't really take in the fact that the pair of them were standing before him until he did a double take and took his headphones off.

"Jun. Conrad. Thank goodness you two are here. I need to talk to you both."

"Yeah, we'd like to talk too Jason actually--" Conrad started, but Jason cut him off.

"Someone published a photo of the two of you on a date together. Twitter has blown up. We weren't sure if you knew or not and, given your reactions, you obviously didn't."

"Oh God," Conrad grimaced as he rubbed at his forehead. "Well, I guess we're going to need to talk to Brian..."

"Probably best that you decide what your stance for the media is. Are you affectionate friends? Are you coming out? Are you denying that it's you? Are you saying you were just studying together? This is going to be scary, and of course some of the media is going to take it badly, no matter how you spin it and no matter what you tell them."

Jun and Conrad exchanged a look, and Conrad squeezed Jun's hand to reassure him. "I'm sure everyone at the club knows the truth."

"They do," Jason patted them both on the shoulder, pushing them towards the door, "You should probably talk to Brian."

Trying to avoid the whispers from the youngsters that followed them along the corridor, Jun and Conrad knocked on Brian's office door and he let the pair of them in with a grimace.

"I've only just seen. If I knew earlier, I would have had a conversation with you two before. First of all, I'm sorry that this has happened." He explained as the pair of them sat down opposite to his desk. "I know it's rough to be outed like this. I'm surprised that your Korean management haven't phoned me yet to have a shouting match."

"It's the middle of the night for them," Jun chewed on his lip, worrying it between his teeth. "Oh man am I going to get it when they wake up."

"We've got some time before they do. I'll take it for you," Brian patted his shoulder and Conrad gave him a hug. "What you two need to decide is how you'll present this to the media."

Jun and Conrad exchanged a look and Conrad nodded.

"I'm not sure about you, but I'm kind of keen to be honest. If we lie, it'll only be that much harder to be honest in the future, right? But I don't want to do anything that will make you uncomfortable."

Jun nodded and squeezed Conrad's hand. "I think I'd like that too. But I'm not entirely sure what will happen back home."

"If this alters your decision in any way, the next time you're competing in South Korea is for your Nationals, and that's not for at least four months Jun. You have time to let this blow over before you go back."

"Do you think that they'll judge me for how I perform instead of my sexuality?"

"They'd better do. Or Yuzuru will throw a bitch fit."

Conrad snorted with laughter at that and even through his worry, Jun couldn't hold back his giggle. Both of them relaxed a little and Brian gave them his most gentle and soft smile.

"So, your plan is...?"

"We'll be honest," Jun said as firmly as he could manage. "We'll be honest and tell people the truth. I love Conrad. I love Conrad and what's wrong with going to a cafe with the person you love?"

"And remember that we've got both of your backs here, okay? All of us. We all love and support both of you, and if you need anything just ask me or Tracy."

"Thanks Brian!"

They decided that the easiest way to shut the rumours up would be with a post on Conrad's Instagram account. They got Yuzuru to take a photo of all the Cricket Club skaters, since he didn't want to be in it, and Conrad had his arm around Jun's waist. They then took a selfie together outside the club, underneath one of the trees that sat outside, and Conrad pressed a kiss to Jun's cheek as they took the photo. They wrote their message, translating it into the four languages that they spoke between them, and typed it as the caption for the two photos before Conrad posted them and then locked his phone.

Hi everyone from Team Cricket! I'm sure everyone has heard the rumours about me and Jun so we would like to set the record straight. We are in love. We love each other and that's all that matters. He's my Junliet and, as far as I'm concerned now, he's my world. I just want to see him smile. So this is also my coming out post I guess. My family, friends, and coaches have known for a while now that I'm bisexual. I never said it before because I didn't think it really mattered, but we thought it was best to let the world know and end the rumours. Conrad

My turn now, and how do I follow that? Conrad is the Romeo to my Junliet and I love him. Many people remember when I was younger and skated to Il Postino that I said I wasn't sure how to interpret the love part and focused on the longing, but now I know what love is. Love, to me, is Conrad. He has my heart and, as far as I know, this is forever for me too. Conrad told me that the English term is pansexual, so that's me. If you're in Toronto and going to Pride, who knows? We might see you there. Thank you always for all your support, and we hope you have good summers. We promise to train hard ready for next season. Jun

"I'm proud of you, you know," Yun-ho gave Jun a real smile, full of pride and care for his pseudo baby brother. "This took a lot of bravery and a lot of guts. And wow, you really really did it. I'm so impressed with you. And remember that I've got your back ready for if anyone comes for you."

"Thanks," Jun leaned his head on Yun-ho's shoulder as they sat out in the back garden of his home in Toronto, "There's been some backlash on Conrad's post, but it's mostly been full of support. I can't even describe how much it means to know that most of the world are accepting."

Yun-ho ruffled his hair. "Because we love you. We love our Jun Hwan Cha. And we love all the parts of you, even the parts of you that other people might not love. You're still the same person that you were before, Jun. You haven't suddenly changed because you've told people that you're pansexual. You've told people something that's very personal and, if they hate you for it, then they're not worth your time anymore. You shouldn't worry about the people who hate you for it because they're not worth listening to. The people who matter love you. The only difference between then and now is that you're free, Jun. You're free from the weight that hiding a secret brings, even if hiding it is important to you. And you get to breathe and relax now. You get to enjoy having your boyfriend and you get to enjoy being young and in love without having to hide. Relish in it. But if he proposes, I'll be on him straight away. No one is marrying my eternal rival without asking me first!"

Jun laughed at that, smiling at the changing sky in the light of the sunset.

"Thank you, Yun-ho."

"You don't have to thank me Jun."

Chapter Text

As a late birthday present combined with a present to reward Conrad's hard work, his parents invited Jun to come over for a surprise party, telling him to bring his raccoon over too. Brian wasn't particularly happy with the creature sitting on the bench but Jun promised him that Tango would absolutely behave himself and wouldn't cause any problems. True to Jun's word, Tango sat good as gold on the bench while he trained, alternating between sleeping and eating the dried fruit snacks that Jun had packed for him. Ghislain gave him a little pat on his furry head as he came in, and Tango nuzzled against it before curling up back into a little ball on the bench, napping for the rest of Jun's training session. When he was done, Tango took over his jacket and used it as his personal little blanket while Jun, Conrad, and Yuzuru cleaned off their blades. Yuzuru had put himself firmly between the pair of them and alternated between giving Conrad suspicious looks and giving Coach Javi, chatting to his group of novices and taming the little girl trying to jump quads, heart eyes. Jun and Conrad exchanged a look behind Yuzuru's back and both laughed as quietly as they could. They finished cleaning off and packing up their skates, and Jun scooped up Tango in his arm so that he could balance him against one shoulder. Conrad looped his free arm around Jun's waist as they headed for the door together.

"You two got a fun evening planned?" Jun turned and gave Yuzuru a bright smile.

"I'm having dinner at Conrad's tonight! His parents invited me over."

Yuzuru gave Conrad a glare before the switch flipped and he gave Jun a cuddle and a smile.

"Have fun! See you guys tomorrow."

"Bye Yuzu!" The pair waved to him before they left the club, climbing into the back of Conrad's mum's car with Tango curled up on Jun's lap.

The ride back was uneventful. Conrad, his mother, and Amelia carried the conversation and Jun leaned his head on Conrad's shoulder, closing his eyes as he stroked Tango's fur and he let the weird blend of English, Polish, and French wash over him. Conrad stroked his hair, pressing a kiss to his cheek when they stopped at his house. Amelia took Tango, cooing over the raccoon and tickling his tummy, while Jun and Conrad took their skates into the house. Jun instinctively toed off his shoes, much to Conrad's continued amusement and his mother's instance that it really wasn't necessary if he didn't want to. Leaving their cases by the door, Jun and Conrad left Tango with Amelia to play with while they went up to Conrad's room, lying on his bed together with their legs half off it as the exhaustion from their training session hit them full force.

"You okay?" Conrad mumbled, idly stroking the other's hair.

"'Mkay. Tired."

Conrad nodded, gently squeezing Jun's side. "Two more days until the weekend."

Jun nodded, making a non-committed noise as they kept cuddling in the gentle and comforting silence. If light wasn't streaming in through Conrad's bedroom window that fell onto the bed, both of them would probably have fallen asleep like that.

"Dinner," Conrad groaned, not moving when he heard his father call for him from downstairs. "Now Conrad Orzel!"

He felt Jun laughing next to him and sat up, running a hand through his hair as he and Jun stood up and stretched. Linking their fingers together, they headed down to the Orzel family's dining room where, despite Jun's offers to help, he was all but shoved down into a seat and Tango was returned to him. Conrad's mother placed down a bowl of mixed fruits, berries, and nuts for Tango while Conrad, Conrad's father, and Amelia set down their plates of food on the table. Conrad slipped into his seat beside Jun and squeezed his hand with a little smile before they started eating.

"So," Conrad's dad spoke up, "are you not wondering why we invited Jun for dinner?"

Conrad shrugged. "Because you like him?"

"True," Conrad's mother gave Jun a warm and reassuring smile that made butterflies flutter in his tummy, "we do. But we have another reason for inviting him tonight."

"We want to congratulate you on your amazing hard work last season, and you also didn't get much for your birthday."

"So my present is dinner with my boyfriend?" Conrad perked up. "I love it! Thank you so--"

"Actually," his father interrupted while his mother was laughing at his reaction, "we wanted Jun to be here to see you get your gift."

Conrad looked between his parents in confusion for the rest of the meal. Jun insisted on helping clear the plates while Conrad's mother and Amelia started to sort out a dessert and Conrad's father went to get the "gift". Slabs of red velvet cake that Amelia had made with the cream cheese frosting in between the layers and beautiful buttercream decorations were served up for them, and, as Conrad was about to start eating, his father returned.

Conrad dropped his fork in shock. In his arms was the cutest Pomeranian puppy he'd ever seen. With fur coloured like a toasted marshmallow, it was like a cute little ball of fluff with onyx black eyes. When it saw Conrad, it let out the most adorable little bark that was more like a yelp, and its tiny tail went crazy.

"Oh my God," Conrad whispered as he stood up, taking the little puppy in his arms. "Oh my God."

"Do you like her? You guys have wanted a dog for so long, and we thought we'd get you one from a shelter."

"I love her," Conrad didn't cry very easily but when that adorable ball of fluff looked up at him with those huge dark eyes that were so full of love, he couldn't help but tear up. "Oh my God, thank you so much!" He threw his free arm around his father, hugging him tightly, "I can't say thank you enough!"

"Keep working hard," his dad patted his back, "just keep working hard. That's all we ask, okay?"

Conrad nodded and hugged the little puppy, bouncing her in his arms. When he set her down on the floor so that he could eat his cake, she curled up beside his foot. Her tiny tail made little noises as she wagged it with over excitement and it hit the hardwood floor. When he and Jun had finished dessert, they cleared their plates as Conrad's mother presented him with a collar and leash for his puppy. Jun clipped Tango's harness and leash onto him as Conrad fitted the pale blue collar on his puppy. In the light of sunset, they took their pets for a walk together. Amelia went with them and snapped a photo of them with the orange and pink sky in the background behind them holding their pets in their arms. After sharing some kisses in the evening and walking as much as Conrad's puppy could cope with, they returned back to Conrad's house where he uploaded the picture to Instagram before Jun's mother came to pick Jun up.

Evening walks with my Junbug and our babies. Please welcome the newest addition to the Orzel family: Élise Orzel.

Chapter Text

Although coaching students who didn't speak English as their first language wasn't the easiest thing in the world, Brian secretly loved it when they slipped up and made little mistakes, reverting back to their mother tongues and making those slips that made the coaches laugh. He'd lost count of how many times Yuzuru had accidentally called Tracy "Okaasan!" in the whining tone he would use on his own mother when he was trying to convince her to let him do something. The tone didn't work on Tracy either. Jun accidentally called Tracy "eomma" all the time and it usually ended up with him whining and covering his face as he flushed bright pink. When he called Brian and Yuzuru "appa" it made the pair of them laugh, especially when Jun apologised again and again. Jason and Joseph had slipped, calling both of them parents in English. Conrad made the most slips as he spoke a weird and wonderful mix of three languages at home, so he would not only slip and call Brian and Tracy mum and dad, but he would also call them "Maman!" and "Papaaa!" in French, and tato and mama in Polish. On some days, the parental terms that his skaters slipped into using to talk to them made Brian's pride swell.

The best and funniest slip came when a very tired Jun came into the club one morning, yawning and sipping his tea from his travel mug that Yuzuru had got him for his birthday. In the locker room, he set the mug down on the side and took off his coat, stuffing it into his locker, when the one next to his opened up and he looked over, stifling another yawn.

"Morning Jun," Yuzuru gave him a gentle smile. "I'm glad you like the mug I got you. Ready for training?"

"Ne, Seonbaenim," Jun yawned, leaning his head on the side of his locker.

"I don't speak Korean Jun," Yuzuru poked his shoulder gently. "Someone is very sleepy and forgot what our common language is."

"Korean?" Jun mumbled before his brain caught up with him. "Oh! Yuzuru I'm sorry!"

"Someone stayed up too late gaming?"

"A little," Jun rubbed the back of his neck. "I... Well, actually, I'm not... I didn't actually stay up late last night. I stayed up because I had a school assignment and had to finish doing it and it was difficult and who even decided that Korean students should submit assignments in English because it's a dumb idea and I'm too tired to translate anything and stupid brain doesn't want to English, and--"

"I'd say that, given that you've just ranted at me in English, it's pretty good," Yuzuru ruffled his hair. "But what was that thing you said earlier? Ne, Sunbeam?"

Jun blinked at him before he turned bright red and covered his face with a grimace. "Ne, Seonbaenim. It means like... Well... Ne is yes. Formal yes. Polite yes."

"And sunbeam?"

"Seonbaenim," Jun corrected, but Yuzuru's deliberate mispronounciation made him laugh. "I don't think there's an exact English word for it but it's like the Korean version of senpai?"

"Awww!" Yuzuru patted him on the head and smiled. "That's so cute! So I'm your seonbaenim? I love that! What's the Korean version of kouhai then?"

"Hubae," Jun explained as he finished putting most of his stuff in his locker and sat down to unpack his skates. "When you're close to someone who is your senior, you can say seonbae instead of seaonbaenim."

"You don't think we're close enough for that?" Yuzuru sat down next to him, fastening his laces in that lightening fast way that he always did.

"I just think that you deserve so much respect that I don't want to drop the "nim", you know?"

Yuzuru offered him a hand up. "I understand if you feel that way, but you don't have to use the formal thing for me if you don't want to. We're friends first of all, remember?"

Jun nodded, giving Yuzuru a quick hug. "There you go. I gave you some flip power so that you can have a good training session with them today."

Yuzuru burst out laughing and patted Jun on the head. "Have some axel power. Maybe lutz power too if you're lucky."

Brian just raised an eyebrow at them when they emerged from the locker room laughing together, but he didn't say anything. They set their blade guards neatly on the bench before Yuzuru started tracing Brian's figures on the ice and Jun did a little warm up on his own. Javier rolled up a little later, not late but not as early as the others, and he had his customary coffee cup in his hands. It was a custom made cup that Yuzuru had got him; it had a picture of Effie on it that Javier just adored. He often joked that it was very nice to be able to bring his little princess to the club for once; she would normally have squealed at him and complained about the temperature if he'd tried to bring his pretty kitty. She was a very particular cat and, on especially cold winter nights, Javier would come home and find her curled up under his duvet or in a pile of his clean clothes, enjoying the warmth that they gave to her. He took off his Cricket Club Coaching jacket and folded it, putting it on the bench next to his cup and Yuzuru's jacket before he laced up his own skates and stepped out to join his boyfriend on the ice.

"Hey," he pulled him into a cuddle and pressed a kiss to Yuzuru's cheek. "Someone looks very happy. Is it because you're with your lover the ice, or because something else happened?"

"Jun called me the Korean version of senpai," Yuzuru cuddled him for a moment before he all but pushed Javier off. "Training time now, cuddle time later."

"Awww, that's possibly the cutest thing I've seen today and I got to see Effie napping." Javier patted him on the back before he let Yuzuru go back to training. "Ganbatte Yuzu!"

"Vamos Coach Javi!"

Yuzuru, as it turned out, actually loved learning languages. Just not English. Dating Javier meant that he was slowly but surely picking up Spanish, and he could introduce himself. Javier had almost fainted with happiness when Yuzuru had bounced up to him and, in a very adorable accent, had said. "Hola Javi! Mi nombre es Yuzu!" He was also trying to pick up on Korean, and would sometimes ask Jun little things about Hangul and the language.

Brian couldn't help but laugh when he walked into the cafe of the Cricket Club on one of the days and found Yuzuru, Yun-ho, and Changmin teaching Jun, Jason, Evgenia, and Javier Japanese. It turned out that, behind Brian's back, his skaters had started an informal language club and were slowly teaching each other.

Well, he thought to himself as he drank his fifth coffee of the day, it can't hurt in press conferences.

Chapter Text

"Oi. We need to talk."

Conrad nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the familiar yet intimidating voice behind him, and he turned, still holding Élise's lead. Standing behind him with his arms folded and a murder face on, was Yun-ho himself. Conrad let out a deep breath before he laughed a little out of a mix of nerves and relief.

"Oh my God! I thought you were a murderer or someone coming to attack me or something." His laughter died down when Yun-ho's glare didn't change, not even when Élise nuzzled up against his leg. "Is everything okay?"

"So Jun told me that you have a date planned, and you won't tell him what it is. Is that true?"

"Well, yes," Conrad moved Élise away from Yun-ho and she sniffed around his feet instead, nuzzling up against his legs and leaving little caramel coloured hairs all over his black jeans, "but I promise it'll be fine and--"

"What are you planning? I need to make sure that you're not going to kidnap him or something."

"I promise you I'm not going to kidnap him," Conrad promised with a very nervous laugh. "I swear it'll be a fun date and I hope he'll really enjoy it."

"What is it? Is it a cafe trip? Because you know what happened last time you went to a cafe."

Conrad groaned and rolled his eyes. "I know, I know, but it's not like that at all. I promise it'll be fun."

"What. Is. It. I won't tell Jun if you're worried that your surprise will be ruined."

"I know, I know, but it's kind of the biggest date that I've planned and I just really want it to go perfectly and I don't want to risk ruining it, and--"

"What sort of thing are you planning?"

Conrad whispered his plan to Yun-ho, and the older didn't crack a smile. He only raised an eyebrow and finally bent down to pet Élise's fluffy head.

"I hope it goes well then. He'll enjoy that."

"YOU WHAT?!" Jun squealed with happiness when Conrad put the VIP pass around his neck, giving him a little kiss to the cheek. "Conrad Orzel, you what?!"

"I may have got us VIP tickets to the Shawn Mendez concert," Conrad rubbed the back of his neck with a slightly shy smile.

"Oh my God," Jun all but bounced out of the car after thanking Conrad's father for dropping them off, "Conrad! You're the best boyfriend ever! How did you afford this?!"

"Truth be told, Javi might have helped me out with it. He said he wants us to have a good time, and he also told me not to worry about Yuzuru. Said he looks intimidating but is actually like a fluffy bunny glaring at you. But yeah, he said he wants us to enjoy the summer, especially because you've been working so hard on that exhibition skate with Yun-ho. And we all know that you're a bit of a Shawn Mendez fanboy so there may or may not be a meet and greet at the end."

Jun pretended to faint into Conrad's arms and grinned up at him. "My angel. And I would never have chosen a Shawn Mendez programme without you. I wouldn't even know who he is without you."

Conrad pressed a kiss to his cheek before he took his hand and led him towards the VIP line. "I'm glad that I'm one of the reasons why your amazing Shawn Mendez exhibition exists then. Come on, let's go and take our places."

Jun practically vibrated in place and the bouncer checked their bags and tickets before they let them in. Hand in hand, they made their way to the VIP area near the front, and Conrad held Jun close to him with one arm around his waist.

The concert was magical. Jun slipped his hand into Conrad's at the start and they didn't let go of each other the whole time. When There's Nothing Holding Me Back played, Conrad and Jun exchanged a look and a laugh. The people next to them exchanged amused expressions as the pair wiggled around together in a way that looked incredibly adorable. When In My Blood was performed, Jun leaned his head on Conrad's shoulder as they swayed together in time to the music. At the end, both of them practically vibrated with happiness as they and the other VIPs were led from the concert venue to the back room.

"Oh my God there he is," Jun whispered to Conrad as he let out another little squeal of happiness. "Oh my God pinch me Conrad! I must be dreaming!"

"If you're dreaming, then I'm having the same dream." Conrad chuckled and looped an arm around his shoulder. "I can't believe we're here right now."

Jun nodded, and Conrad had to try not to laugh when Jun held back his urge to squeal when it was their turn to meet Shawn. They took a couple of photos with him and he signed their tickets and autograph books when he paused, taking a better look at the pair.

"Wait a second, you guys are those figure skaters, right? Those cool figure skaters who skated to some of my music. You're Canadian, right?" he looked at Conrad who flushed bright pink.

"We are, yeah, and I'm Canadian."

"What you guys did on social media," Shawn smiled at the pair of them, "I was tagged in it by a couple of fans so I decided to have a look, and I was so impressed. You guys are brave, and thanks for choosing to skate to my music."

"Thank you for making such good music," Jun got over his fanboying and shyness and spoke up, "it's really good. Great to skate to!"

Shawn gave the pair of them a smile and a pat on the shoulders. "Thanks. That means a lot, you know? I can only imagine how hard you guys work, so praise from you means a lot. Maybe we should do something together sometime?"

Jun squeaked and Conrad couldn't help but laugh at the other's reaction. "Sounds amazing!"

"I look forward to it. Thanks for coming to the show!"

Jun and Conrad left the venue hand in hand and they felt like they were dancing on air.

Chapter Text

Yuzuru Hanyu decided that, if he was already taking asthma medication to live with Effie and Javi, he might as well go all out and they should adopt a cat together. But he and Javi couldn't just go together and get a cat, because that would be much too simple for Yuzuru Hanyu. Oh no. It was to be A Trip with Jason and Jun brought along so that they could put in extra input on the type of cat to get, and Conrad was so protective of Jun after the announcement of their relationship that he had to come too. They'd all piled into Javier's car, with Yuzuru in the front and the other three in the back seat, and they'd driven to an animal shelter together. Yuzuru could barely wait until the car stopped before he jumped out and impatiently tugged on Javier's hand to pull him in. The other three followed behind them and Yuzuru let out a squeal when they were led through towards the cats. As if recognising one of their own, they all ran up to the edges of their enclosures, letting out little squeaks and purrs.

"Javi Javi look at how cute they are!" Yuzuru gushed, tugging on his boyfriend's hands. "Oh look at this one and her huge dark eyes! Oh and this cute little black one with green eyes! Oh this one looks like you! And this one is so cute and fluffy!"

Jun, Jason, and Conrad all exchanged a look behind Javier and Yuzuru before they started laughing. They followed behind them as Yuzuru cooed over all the cats before he was allowed to go into one of the pens to pet them. Javier got out his phone and filmed the whole thing, enjoying himself thoroughly as Yuzuru got all but swarmed by the cats, enveloped and wrapped up in cuddles from the animals. They nuzzled against his legs and pushed each other out of the way to try and rub their heads against Yuzuru's hands.

"Javi look at how cute they all are," Yuzuru had the brightest smile as he sat there on the floor with cats on his lap, on his shoulders, pawing at him, and one was sitting on his head. "How many should we adopt? Six? Eight? Ten?"

"One," Javier put his phone away after snapping one more picture of Yuzuru with the kitten balanced on his head. "We should adopt one cat."

"But Javi--"

"Don't you use those eyes on me. They don't work. Effie has used them so many times I'm immune to them now. We're getting one cat. One. Just one."

Yuzuru whined at him but soon got distracted by yet more of the cats pawing at him. Jason, Jun, and Conrad exchanged yet more looks and laughter as they saw Javier shaking his head at the other with affection lacing his movements. Jason picked one of the cats off Yuzuru and stroked the little tabby's head.

"Why don't you, instead of diving in head first, think about what you guys really want in your newest cat and--"

Yuzuru and Javier weren't listening. Instead, their eyes were focused on something behind Jason. One of the cats had tried sniffing at Conrad and, since he still had Élise's fur on his leg, she had scarpered away from him and made a home in Jun's arms. He cooed and played with her soft black fur, cuddling the cat as she purred and wriggled in his arms.

"She's gorgeous," Javier whispered, eyes fixed on the cat.

Yuzuru nodded with a smile and offered her his hand. She sniffed at it before she let out a quiet mewl and nuzzled against his hand, purring. Yuzuru took her from Jun and she nuzzled up against his chest. Javier wrapped one arm around Yuzuru's waist and, with the other hand, he stroked at her fur too. They exchanged a look together and smiled up at each other.

"This one," Javier said to the poor lady who had been waiting off to the side, ready to help them make a decision if they needed her. "This one."

"Are you sure?" she asked as she moved the rest of the cats away from Yuzuru's legs and put them back in their pens where they could roll around with each other or go back to eating and sleeping. Jason didn't want to put down the little tabby that had curled up in his arms, purring and nuzzling against him, and he gave the poor woman a sheepish grin.

"May I adopt this young lady please?"

With the two cats in their arms, she let Jun and Conrad continue playing with the cats while she brought Jason, Yuzuru, and Javier into her office along with the two cats. The one that Jason had picked was an adorable tabby with green eyes that were almost hazel in colour. The cat that Yuzuru and Javier had picked was like a little ball of void. She was all black with sparkly green eyes like two emeralds. She kept purring on Yuzuru's lap as they settled down in the office.

"So," she looked up at Jason with a very gentle smile, "what would you like to name her?"

"Dela," Jason smiled, running his fingers through her fur. "Pretty little Dela."

"It's a lovely name." She complimented. "Are you sure you can look after her?"

"I am, yes." Jason left his name and address and she promised that someone would come by in a few weeks' time to check up on Dela.

"And you two? What would you like to name this little one?"

Yuzuru scratched behind her ears and pressed a kiss to her fur. "Yua. Yua Hanyu-Fernandez."

Javier's heart fluttered when Yuzuru put both of their names together for their cat. He slipped his hand into Yuzuru's free one and squeezed it, heart fluttering.

"Someone will come by in a few weeks’ time to check up on Yua too. Enjoy having cats!"

The three laughed and stepped back out into the shelter with their cats in carriers. Looking around the room, Jason looked concerned, Yuzuru looked positively murderous, and Javier just burst out laughing.

Lying on the floor, surrounded by cats, were Jun and Conrad. They were cuddling each other and, in Jun's arms, there was a cute little snow-white kitten curled up.

"Tango won't like her," Conrad reasoned as he pried the little kitten away from Jun and set her down. "Come on. Let's cuddle with Tango and Élise, alright?"

"Sounds like a perfect date."

"The bean-pole needs to remove himself from Jun," Yuzuru seethed to Javi, who just burst out laughing and wrapped him up in a hug.

Chapter Text

The day finally came. After months of planning, practice, costume fittings, and sleepless nights, it was finally the last night of the show in Korea. Jun was practically bouncing backstage as he watched the others performing before him on the screen. Yun-ho next to him placed a gentle and comforting hand on his back.

"It'll be fine. You're great. We've worked so much on this that I'm sure it'll be great. Just relax, okay?"

Jun nodded, back straight and still tense. He watched as Evgenia stepped off the ice to the sound of thousands of screaming and adoring fans. She came backstage and gave him a little smile as well as a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Jun's heart was racing a mile a minute and he struggled to calm himself down.

"Ready?" Yun-ho's voice managed to cut through his internal fear.

"As I'll ever be," Jun mumbled rather than said properly. Changmin and Yun-ho both gave him a smile as one of he organisers of the event held open the curtains for them.

"Please welcome the musical sensations Max Changmin and U-know Yun-ho to the stage!"

The two musicians stepped out before Jun did, smiling and waving with their practiced ease that had come from years of idol training. They took their places by the microphones as Jun watched them on the screen backstage, bouncing his weight from foot to foot to do something with his nervous energy. The person holding the curtain gave him a weird look but didn't comment as he shook his hands out, still shifting from foot to foot.

"Please welcome to the ice, for a collaboration exhibition, South Korean National Champion: Cha Jun Hwan!"

Jun squished down his nerves inside of himself and stepped out through the curtains. The crowd squealed for him and for the collaboration that they'd heard so much about and had such high expectations for. Their cheers lifted his spirits and he couldn't help but smile brightly at them, waving as he stepped out onto the ice. He and the vocal duo bowed to each other before he took to the centre of the ice, waiting to start off the programme like he had a hundred times in the club, or in the dance studio with Jeff. Although it was Yun-ho's song, Changmin was still there to perform it with him.

The beat started and the crowd were on their feet as soon as they recognised the opening notes of City Lights. Jeff's choreography blended well with the music and the dance of the music video. Partway through, after his triple loop that had become almost a signature move of Jun's in exhibition skates, he found himself smiling and relaxing into it. He wasn't performing for thousands of people in Korea. He was messing around in the dance studio with Jeff and Yun-ho, joking about doing a KPop exhibition. He was pulling Conrad around his bedroom, bouncing around to KPop and disturbing Tango's nap. He caught Yun-ho's eye partway through it and the older gave him a smile as he kept singing. The crowd screamed for his layback Ina Bauer and trademark knee slide. After his final spin, he held the end pose where he was reaching out towards the pop duo and the crowd went absolutely insane, screaming and applauding. Jun was pretty sure he caught sight of a couple of people crying too. With a smile to the pair of them, Changmin gave him a thumbs up and they started another exhibition skate that Jun had learnt in secret: one to Mirotic.

The crowd went even more wild and all three performers let loose, having fun with it. Yun-ho and Changmin also started doing a dance that fitted beside Jun's choreographed skate, and the exhibition looked like a beautiful masterpiece. The three performers were almost sad when Jun hit his final pose on the note and the exhibitions were over. The crowd started begging for another encore but the performers just laughed. Jun bowed to the older two and pointed to them, encouraging everyone to applaud them louder and with more enthusiasm. The two performers then pointed to the skater and the person working the spotlight followed. He bowed to the audience before he climbed up onto the little stage area beside the two performers and took both of their hands in his after Changmin pushed him to the middle. They bowed as a trio when Jun nearly fainted at the sight before him.

Gliding across the ice with three bouquets of flowers, was the Queen herself. Yuna stopped by the edge of the stage and gave one of them to each of the performers along with a bow before she stopped in front of Jun and gave him a beautiful smile full of pride.

"Beautiful skate," she told him as she hugged him and handed him the flowers. "You're a very talented skater. Best of luck for the next season, Jun Hwan."

Jun nodded and Yun-ho had to stifle a laugh. In that moment, Jun looked every bit like the sweet little eleven year old trouble maker on Yuna's show who had gone all starry-eyed at her whenever she'd come over to help him. After Yuna left, the trio waved to the audience again and left to the screams of the audience as Yuzuru took to the ice next wearing something that sparkled with the light of a thousand suns. Or a million rhinestones.

"That was amazing!" Yun-ho ruffled Jun's hair and gave him a one-armed hug. "Seriously, that was amazing and so much fun. Oh we have to do something like this again sometime."

"We do, we really do," Changmin let out a dramatic sigh when he looked Jun up and down. "It's a shame that you're not twenty yet and can't go for a drink with us to celebrate."

"I've still got some group numbers to go," Jun explained with a little giggle of laughter. "You two go on ahead. Text me where you are so that the others and I can join you." Yun-ho gave him a Mama Bear look and Jun had to stifle his laughter. "I'll just be drinking lemonade, I promise."

"You'd better." Yun-ho tried and failed to sound like a parent. "See you later Jun! Best of luck for the rest of the show!"

Chapter Text

The days after a show were always weird. After so much hard work had finally paid off, Yuzuru felt a little weird that he had nothing to do until his training started properly again. He never really took holidays, but both Brian and his mother had insisted that he should go and do something to relax for once. They'd packed him off on the first flight from Seoul to Madrid with Javier in tow for two weeks of holiday in Spain. Equipped with extra inhalers and enough sun cream to last him a lifetime, Yuzuru and Javier stepped off the plane in Madrid together. Navigating the Madrid subway, Yuzuru yawned behind his face mask and leaned his head on Javier's shoulder as they stood together so that others could sit down. When the underground train pulled into Principe Pio, Javier squeezed Yuzuru's waist before they took their cases and headed for the doors, opening them up and stepping out of the train and into the station. Yuzuru kept a tight hold of Javier's hand as he followed him up the stairs and out into the bustling streets of Madrid.

Yuzuru had always tried to guess what Madrid was like based on Javier alone and, taking a look around the small part he had been exposed to, he wasn't far off. The whole place was warm and sunny, and the whole place had a friendly and familiar feeling that Javier had about him.

"You won't be recognised, I promise," Javier teased gently as he led them through the main bustling streets.

Javier watched Yuzuru out of the corner of his eye and a little ball of happiness rose inside of him as Yuzuru's eyes lit up. He drank in the sights around him, smiling with his eyes, and Javier couldn't help but feel a swell of pride having been the one to introduce Yuzuru to the new experiences. Yes, Yuzuru had been to Spain before of course, but he'd never taken the time to explore Barcelona. Plus, Madrid and Barcelona were very different anyway. He led Yuzuru out of the main streets and down a little side street that was mostly apartments and little independent run shops. Yuzuru still took in every sight and sound, looking around them both as Javier unlocked the door to his apartment block.

"That lift has been out since before I moved in here," Javier explained with a roll of his eyes and the light laughter that made Yuzuru's heart flutter. "I'll carry your bag if you want--"

"I can do it." Yuzuru huffed and fake pouted at him. "Javi thinks I'm a little flower who can't carry his own bag."

"Javi wants to make sure that you're not over exerting yourself." His tone was teasing but gentle as they made it up the four flights of stairs to his apartment and he unlocked the door. "Welcome to my home!"

It was very Javier. The whole place felt warm and loved. It was a little messy, but neat enough that Yuzuru didn't care. Running out of one of the rooms, Effie circled the pair of them in the foyer before she nuzzled up against Yuzuru's legs, purring. Another cat followed her, Yuzuru assumed this was Roni, and started nuzzling up against the pair of them too.

"That's their way of saying hello," Javier shook his head as he scooped Effie up into his arms and led Yuzuru to his room. "You've already met my spoilt little princess. That one is my spoilt little prince. He lives with my family most of the time, but Laura knew we were coming and dropped them off."

"Send her my thanks," Yuzuru smiled and flopped onto the bed. "I do like the Spanish idea of a siesta."

"Oh my God, your accent is adorable," Javier settled on the bed next to him and stroked his hair out of his face. "You said on the plane that as soon as we landed you would check on Jun and Conrad?"

Yuzuru nodded, reaching around for his phone. "This, and then I'll nap." He tapped the video call and Jun's face appeared. The younger waved at him from where he was sitting on a bed with a Soohorang plushie on his lap and a bright green face mask on. "Hi Jun. How are you doing?"

"Good," Jun yawned and giggled as he covered his mouth. "Sorry, tired. It's getting late here. We're getting ready for bed."

"We?"

Jun chuckled and turned the phone so that Yuzuru could see Conrad. The other was sitting beside Jun on the bed with the same skincare product on, and he waved at Yuzuru before he passed Jun a bowl of popcorn.

"I hope you two don't intend to share that bed."

"Nope, he's going into the guest room," Jun explained, "We were about to peel these off and then watch Spider Man."

"Don't let me stop you then. Have a good evening."

The call ended and Yuzuru let sleep overtake him. It was a few hours later that his body woke him up in the middle of the night, much to Javier's amusement.

"You'll adjust eventually," Javier said before he took Yuzuru's hand and pulled him towards the door. "Come on. I want to show you something. I promise you'll love it."

Yuzuru raised an eyebrow at him but let himself be tugged along. Instead of going the one stop on the R line of the metro, they walked it together. Javier couldn't help but burst out laughing as geese from the river started to swarm and follow Yuzuru, chasing after him. When they reached the next subway station on foot, Yuzuru followed after Javier as he led them further into the city and through several streets until they reached a little cafe that was still open, even late at night.

"Javi?"

"You can't say you've been to Madrid if you haven't been to Chocolateria San Gines at least once," Javier explained. The Spanish words rolled off his tongue like honey and, to Yuzuru, they sounded like the most beautiful music. "Hot chocolate and churros is the best thing ever. You'll love it, I promise."

They, Javier, ordered two servings of it and they then settled at one of the tables in the corner. They were each brought a plate of churros and a hot chocolate that doubled as a dipping sauce. Javier dipped a churro into the sauce and offered it to Yuzuru.

"I have my own," he said but giggled as he took a bite, savouring the sweet taste of the pastry blended with the delicious chocolate. "Oh my God Javi!"

"Good?"

"So good." Yuzuru nodded. "So so good."

"Guess that means you'll have to come and visit Madrid more often, huh?"

Yuzuru's face scrunched in a smile and he nodded, offering Javier his own churro dipped in chocolate. "I guess I will. What a shame, having to spend weeks with my boyfriend feeding me sweets and chocolate and letting me play with his cats."

Chapter Text

Unknown to the world, there was one day at the Cricket Club that Brian called "Paperwork day." The skaters didn't bother to bring their skates or training gear. Instead, it was a day dedicated to signing coaching contracts for the year, updating ISU bios, checking over music times, organising costumes, and dealing with lots of little administrative tasks that normally would have built up over time until the skaters missed deadlines or forgot to organise costumes, leading to a big disaster. Tracy, being the most level headed and sensible at the club, had organised the day for everything to get sorted so that everyone could train after it with a clear conscience. It was also a good day for the coaches to find out what each skater's goals for the season and beyond were, and it gave them time to try and plan what they would do with each skater.

As per usual, Yuzuru rolled up to the club first with Javier and his mother both in tow. He bowed to everyone in the club like he normally did, greeting them as he came up to the tables in the lounge that Brian, Tracy, and Ghislain had taken over. His mother settled in the corner, ready to sign anything Yuzuru needed her too. After he'd turned twenty, he took over most of it and penned his own signature to everything, but he still liked asking her for her advice on things. Javier went off and made coffee for the other coaches before he brought Yuzuru and Yumi Hanyu a mug of tea each, using the special tea leaves that Yuzuru really liked and had left a box of in the cupboard in his apartment for when he stayed over for the night. Both of them thanked him with bright smiles and Yuzuru filled in his standard information for his bio; it was the information that never changed.

"Have you picked your music?" Tracy asked him gently as Jun arrived at the rink and settled down in one of the seats around the table while his mother joined Yuzuru's at the table in the corner. Using their mix of English and a language that Yuzuru had affectionately dubbed 'mother language', they started chatting away in the corner, probably embarrassing both of their sons by talking about their boyfriends.

Yuzuru nodded with a smile that made Brian's hair ready to fall out. "Yep! I already sent it to Jeffrey and Shae-Lynn to choreograph for me. Short programme will be to Unravel, from Tokyo Ghoul."

"Of course it will," Brian muttered to himself as he helped Jun fill out the information for his bio.

Yuzuru ignored him and kept talking. "And the music for my free programme will be Rachmaninoff's Piano Concert number 2."

Tracy blinked at him. "The music that Mao used at Sochi?"

Yuzuru nodded. "It's not a tribute programme, I promise. I just like the music very much. I like piano music."

"Well, no one can say that you don't have range if you perform those two," Brian mumbled to himself. "Sure. Go for it. I'm assuming your costumes will be glittery again?"

Yuzuru gave him an innocent, sheepish smile and Brian just rolled his eyes.

"Someone bless poor Satomi Ito."

"Ito-san has already sent me the initial sketches for both," Yuzuru dug around in his Winnie the Pooh folder and withdrew them, sliding them across the table to Brian as Jason and Evgenia joined the table. "What do you think?"

"They're... Interesting," Brian passed them back. "Well, we'll make sure that you have the best jumps, spins, and skating skills to go with those sparkly monstrosities."

Jun dug around in his bag and got out his glasses, sliding the black frames on as he filled in some of the forms. Brian took Yuzuru to his office so that they could talk in private about his goals for the season while Tracy spoke to Jun about his programmes.

"You've already started choreographing them, haven't you?"

"Yep!" Jun smiled. "Jeff has started with Black Swan, and I've also asked David to choreograph for my Les Mis programme."

Tracy raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? So you're not having David choreograph your short and Shae-Lynn choreograph your free this time?"

Jun shrugged. "No, I think this is better. Jeff did such a good job with my two exhibitions at the show and I thought they were amazing. And so did everyone else. I'm keeping City Lights as my exhibition skate this season. But Jeff seemed to get the KPop the best, you know? And we already started on Black Swan in a less serious way, but now that I want to do it, I think it would just be a waste of time to ask someone else to do what he's already started."

Tracy nodded in understanding and patted Jun on the shoulder. She couldn't help but laugh, just a little, and Jun tilted his head at her questioningly.

"I just think it's amusing," she explained to him, "that Yuna also asked David to choreograph her Les Mis programme for her. That's all."

Jun turned pink and rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling something about it purely being a coincidence and there really being no other link. Tracy just patted his back and let him get back to his paperwork as she turned and gave Joseph and Conrad a smile.

"Morning boys," she greeted them and gestured to the seats around the table beside her, Ghislain, and Paige. "Settle down and we'll start filling in the paperwork."

"Morning," Conrad slipped into the seat next to Jun when he did a double take, staring at the other. Jun looked up from his forms and gave Conrad a sleepy but sweet smile; it was the same kind of smile that Shoma gave at every competition and press conference.

"Have I got something on my face?" Jun asked Conrad, "You're staring."

"You," Conrad struggled to form a word, let alone a coherent sentence, "I... You wear glasses?" he manged to squeak out, much to Tracy's amusement.

"Yeah," Jun nodded and adjusted the black frames so that they sat more comfortably on his nose, "have done for a little while. I only wear them off the ice and it's normally when I'm doing school work or," he gestured to the paperwork scattered across the table, "stuff like this. Close stuff. Stuff that I really need to focus on when I'm reading."

Conrad looped an arm around Jun's waist and placed a kiss to his cheek. "Is it weird to think that you look even hotter than normal in your glasses?"

Jun giggled and shook his head, looping his arms around Conrad's neck and resting them on his shoulders. Conrad cupped his waist with both hands and they exchanged sleepy kisses in the lounge of the club.

"BEAN-POLE!"

Chapter Text

The videos of Jun's exhibition skates with TVXQ spread across the internet like wildfire in the weeks following the shows, and fans were clamouring for more. Jun's Korean management struggled to tame most of it and contacted Jun and his mother, asking for Jun to come back to Seoul for a week so that they could film another collaboration with him and the pop duo. Brian was less than impressed, since it would mean missing a week of training, but, after Jun begged him with those puppy dog eyes that no one at the club could resist, he and his mother were flying off back home to Seoul ready to film it. After a day of recovering from the travel, Jun met with the two again in a coffee shop. It would have almost been normal if there weren't hundreds of photographers and a camera crew around them.

"There's our little figure skating baby," Yun-ho pulled him into a hug when he first saw him, messing up his hair that his stylist had agonised over to give him casual soft waves and curls that took much more effort to perfect than it looked like they did. "How's my eternal rival doing? Miss us?"

"Always," Jun laughed as he untangled himself from the other's arms and slipped back into his seat on one side of the table. "How have you two been?"

"Oh, same as always," Changmin elbowed Yun-ho in the side with a smirk. "Doing our idol things. Same as always."

Jun leaned back in his seat, giving the camera a beautiful shot of his profile as he sipped at his tea. Yun-ho smirked at him before he burst out laughing.

"You know what this reminds me of? Reminds me of when we were on Kim Yuna's Kiss and Cry, and we were having that meal together. The four of us. Remember?"

Jun set down the cup and giggled, nodding. "And then I asked you--"

"Why don't I have a girlfriend, yes," Yun-ho rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well, why don't you have a girlfriend?" he teased, "Huh?"

"I go to an all boys' school," Jun repeated the answer that he always gave when that question came up, and he stuck his tongue out at Yun-ho. "And why would I want a girlfriend right now when I've got the best boyfriend in the world?"

The camera crew exchanged looks but no one said anything as they continued the catch up on camera. They could always edit it down later if they really needed to, not that the fans would care. Jun's coming out had been ages ago and most people had accepted him for who he was already. Yun-ho smiled to himself and he kicked Jun lightly under the table.

"Lucky," was all he said as he sipped at his own tea and smiled at the younger, separating the syllables. "How is skating going? Anything exciting planned for next season?"

"Nothing that you don't know already," Jun teased when he caught sight of one of the camera people waving their hands and trying to encourage him to keep talking.

"Remind us?" Changmin was smooth in his response, and Jun nearly choked on his tea when he caught sight of Yun-ho and Changmin's linked hands under the table, hidden from the cameras' views by their bodies.

"I'm skating to BTS's Black Swan for my short," he chuckled at the over dramatic reactions of the KPop duo in front of him, "and Les Mis for my free."

"Same as Kim Yuna when she won her second world title?"

Jun nodded, setting down his cup. "Maybe I can win a world title with it. Joking!" He laughed and relaxed. "If I can finish in the top ten at Worlds, that would be a dream come true. Two spots for Korea at the Olympics then!"

"Let's hope you can do it!" Yun-ho encouraged him with his light tone and ever brotherly fondness for Jun. "We're cheering you on."

"With one of the best pop duos in Korea cheering me on, how can I do badly?" Jun joked before he decided to tease them further. "You think that EXO are cheering me on too? They're the best in Korea."

After yet more teasing and chatting, the crew stopped filming and let the three go. They exchanged more hugs and even went out to dinner together with Jun's mother before they departed and went their separate ways to their homes. Jun didn't think anything of the evening and of what had happened until he woke up at stupid o'clock in the morning to his phone ringing non-stop.

"Learn time zones," Jun grumbled as he sat up, hair a mess from how he had slept.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, have you seen twitter?!" Conrad all but screamed down the phone to him. Jun stuck him onto speaker, letting him babble away while he opened up the app on his phone and very nearly fainted.

EXO @weareoneEXO

@TVXQ Saw your chat with #ChaJunHwan. We're absolutely supporting Korea's top male skater! If you three would like to do a collab, hit us up sometime! We'd love to perform with all of you.

"--Jun. JUN!" Conrad squealed down the phone to him. "Jun oh my God it's so cool! You have EXO supporting you. EXO! Oh my God, Evgenia is going to be so very jealous of you."

"I think I'm still dreaming," Jun whispered weakly into the phone. "I'm still dreaming because there is no way in this universe that EXO said they're supporting me and said they'd like to do a collaboration with me, Yun-ho and Changmin. This isn't real. This is a nice little dream and soon I'll wake up back in the real world where this hasn’t happened and I’m another Korean athlete."

Conrad chuckled and Jun could almost hear him shake his head. "Sleep well a little longer Junnie. I'll talk to you at a more reasonable hour."

"Yeah," Jun mumbled, still staring at Twitter. "Love you."

"Love you too. Now sleep. I'll talk to you later."

Chapter Text

The rink, when the refrigeration mechanics hadn't been broken by a raccoon (Not Tango, Jun would like to point out) chewing through the wires of it, was cool, even at the height of summer. Outside the club, Canada was very warm and, after stepping out of the cool club, it was a bit of a shock to the system. Conrad and Joseph were the most used to it, even compared to Javier who was from Spain and had trained in Canada for years. Yuzuru could cope since Canada was generally drier than Japan and so the hot air was less bad for his lungs, but he still tried to be outside for as little time as possible. Jason, coming from the United States, was also used to the climate. Jun loathed the very warm weather, even though Seoul was the same, and he tried to spend as much time as possible at the rink with Yuzuru, who would have lived in the rink if Brian didn't force him to go home. On one of the afternoons, Jun leaned against the wall of the club and tried to hide himself in the shade when someone stepped up beside him.

"Hi Javi," he mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes as he did a reverse lizard, shying away from the sun instead of basking in it, "everything okay?"

"I was about to ask you that." Javier leaned against the wall next to him and tilted his head at him. "The heat's getting to you a bit, isn't it?"

"A little."

"Well," Javier opened his arms to Yuzuru as the other came out of the club and all but jumped straight into them, "we're going to go for snow cones. Do you and Conrad want to come with us?"

Jun lazily opened one eye and studied Javier in confusion behind his back. "What are they?"

"You're inviting the Bean-pole?"

"Be nice," Javier chided affectionately, "but Jun, to answer your question, it's flavoured shaved ice."

"Kakigori," Yuzuru mumbled, cuddling Javier and letting his weight all but entirely fall onto the other. "Tastes nice. Very refreshing."

"Similar to patbingsu?" Jun mumbled to himself as he summoned up the energy to push himself away from the wall and to flop onto Conrad instead as the other emerged from the club.

"I have no idea what that is," Javier laughed and looped an arm around Yuzuru's waist as the other put his face mask on and the four headed into the city.

They stayed out of the main streets and stuck to the back streets instead to lessen the chance of them being recognised. If they were noticed, no one approached them and asked them to sign anything or take photos that the four were grateful for. They made it to a little, family run ice cream place that also sold snow cones, and Javier gestured to the list of flavours on the board.

"Coach Javi says you need to have these to help yourselves relax and to cool down after working so hard," he instructed, unable to stop himself laughing at his own joke like the middle aged man he was turning into, "so you four pick and I'll pay."

"Sure, Coach Javi," Yuzuru teased, bringing a blush to Javier's cheeks. He and the two kids studied the menu, and Yuzuru was the first to order. "Lychee, vanilla, and strawberry syrup please."

"Lychee?" Javier raised an eyebrow at him. "That's a new one for you."

"I like lychee," Yuzuru stuck his tongue out at him before he gestured for the others to order.

"Raspberry, lemon-lime, and pomegranate please," Jun ordered politely.

"Banana, toffee, and butterscotch please," Conrad looped his arm around Jun's waist and, to Yuzuru's displeasure, he placed a kiss to his cheek.

"And mango, pineapple, and passion fruit for me please," Javier smiled to the server who nodded.

The four of them watched with a mix of curiosity and fascination as their ice was scooped up and their three flavours poured on different sections of the shaved ice, leaving streaks of different colours on the ice. Javier paid for them and handed them out. Yuzuru's had two paler streaks and one vibrant pink streak of strawberry and, when he tried a mouthful, he did his happy wiggle of satisfaction. Jun's was very colourful with two shades of red and orange and a load of pale green syrup. He took a scoop and sighed in satisfaction.

"Good?"

"Very good," Jun smiled up at Javier. "Thank you so much."

"My pleasure." He looked at Conrad's and shook his head. "Yours looks rather... Beige."

"Hey, it tastes like banoffee pie, so really I'm the winner right now and you all aren't."

"Banoffee?" Yuzuru asked. "What's that?"

"Banana and toffee. A banoffee pie is like them together with the sweetest cream covered thing and it's so good and I'll have to bring you some to the club sometime."

"Sounds gross," Yuzuru said honestly.

"More for me then," Conrad shrugged, scooping some of the butterscotch section and offered it to Jun. The younger took it with a bright smile and offered Conrad some of his own pomegranate one.

"Say ahh," Javier held out a spoonful of the mango crushed ice for Yuzuru, feeding him it and practically glowing with happiness. "Taste good?"

"Very good," Yuzuru nodded with a little smile. "Might have to get that one next time. Want to try some of mine?"

Javier leaned down and kissed Yuzuru instead, ignoring the scoop offered to him. "You taste even sweeter."

"You utter sap," Yuzuru said gently and fondly. "You sappy sappy sap."

"I'm your sap though. I'm only a sap for you."

Jun and Conrad behind them exchanged a look and both of them giggled before they too exchanged a kiss, taking advantage of Yuzuru's distracted state so that he didn't go all Mama Bear on Conrad.

"Not to sound sappy too, but you taste so sweet right now."

Jun just laughed and ate another spoonful of his snow cone, letting the lemon-lime flavour flood his mouth as the ice melted. He relaxed, leaning his head on Conrad's shoulder as they lingered outside the shop in the cool shade, avoiding the burning heat of the Canadian sun.

"We should come here more often. I'll have to send Javi a gift basket for introducing me to it."

Jun smiled up at him. "I'd like that."

If, after training, Jun and Conrad would walk Tango and Élise together and then stop off for snow cones in the summer, no one else had to know.

Chapter Text

"Hyung, I need your help."

"Oh?" Yun-ho looked Jun up and down and frowned at him out of confusion rather than irritation or frustration. "Is everything alright? What do you need my help with?"

"Right, so, well," Jun pushed his hair out of his face as he flopped down on the sofa beside Yun-ho, watching as he used the younger's gaming system and lost to the computer characters, "at the club, we're going to have a night where we relax, you know? Jason's idea. We're having a little party type thing or something. Only, well, um, Brian mentioned something about a dance."

"So you want me to teach you how to dance?" Yun-ho asked, throwing his head back in irritation as he got hit with a blue shell just before the finish line and his first place was snatched away from him. "I can do that."

He set down the controller on the table and turned off the game before he turned to Jun, hands on his hips.

"Dancing isn't hard. Especially because you're a figure skater, dance will come naturally to you. Hold onto me and I'll teach you different types of ballroom. And then I'll teach you some hip hop in case you need that, and of course some KPop dances too, although you already know several of them."

Jun nodded and Yun-ho chewed his lip in consideration.

"Okay, first of all, the waltz. Are you the lead? Or will you be the follow?"

"Probably the follow if I'm dancing with Conrad," Jun shrugged. "I don't want to be the lead."

"Okay, well," Yun-ho put his right hand on Jun's shoulder and took his other hand, "put your left hand on my shoulder. Yes, that's right. For the basic steps, I'm going to step forward with my left, so you're going to step back with your right. That's on beat one. Keep on the ball of your foot, that's right. Yes, then step back on your left foot so that there is a gap between them but so that they are level. Then join your right to your left. Three steps. Pretty easy, right?"

Jun nodded, eyes lowered to his feet and Yun-ho couldn't help but laugh.

"As the follow, just try to relax. It's the lead's job to take charge after all. Keep calm and if you guys mess up, blame the bean-pole."

Jun chuckled and nodded before he looked back down at his feet. "What do I do after this?"

"After that, you step forward on your left." Yun-ho stepped back on his right to give Jun the space and the younger followed his steps easily. "Great! Then parallel with your right foot, and then join them together with the right. Fantastic! That's your basic steps down. You can do the waltz now. If you're going to make it more complicated, add in a turn as you do it. But that's kind of for the lead to dictate. Don't worry about it and just relax into the waltz music. Do you want to try it?"

Jun nodded and, much to his amusement, Yun-ho found the Masquerade Waltz that so many other skaters used for their music. Although the tempo was a little faster than Jun himself would have picked, he soon got used to it and fell into step with Yun-ho leading him. After a couple of minutes dancing around Jun's living room, much to his mother's amusement as she worked on her laptop at the dining table, they tried some simple turns that went much better than Jun would have anticipated. When the both of them were satisfied, Yun-ho let go of Jun and turned off the music before he turned back to him.

"Tango next! I know you've skated to tangos, but the dance is a bit different. The key to the tango is confidence and five steps." Yun-ho tossed his head back dramatically before he started to demonstrate. "For the lead, it's forward left, forward right, forward left, step right, step together. For you," Yun-ho turned so that Jun could copy him exactly, "it's backward right, backward left, backward right, step left, step together. Good. You'll want to match the music but generally the tempo of your steps should be slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. Oh, and you want to get a bit closer together for the tango dance. It's a little more intimate than the waltz. South Americans are sexier than Europeans apparently."

Jun rolled his eyes when Yun-ho played Libertango for the pair of them to practice to, and he followed the other's steps around the room. There were a couple of moments where Jun tripped over but he got the hang of it pretty quickly and followed Yun-ho around the room.

"You've got it!" Yun-ho let him go before he tapped his chin, considering which dance to teach him next. "Alright, now to learn how to dance the Jun Hwan."

Jun raised an eyebrow at him and Yun-ho burst out laughing.

"The Cha Cha."

"Oh!" Jun laughed. "I know this one! I know the Cha Cha Slide--"

"That does not count! I did not raise you to be so uncultured," Yun-ho shook his head dramatically. "Okay okay, first the pre-step."

Yun-ho taught Jun the Cha Cha, then the rumba, and then finally he taught him salsa. They practiced each of them together until Jun was sure that he had all the follow steps.

"Ready to try and lead?" Yun-ho asked, offering the younger his hand. Jun pulled a face and he burst out laughing. "Just try. I promise it's not that hard. You'll do great, I know you will. You dictate the direction mostly. The music will dictate the rest for you. Besides, what if the bean-pole decides that he can't lead and you have to step up and do it? Will you turn down the dance?"

"No," Jun mumbled, taking Yun-ho's hand as the let the other push him into leaing with different music this time. Jun's confidence in each of the dance styles grew and Yun-ho couldn't help but swell with pride.

"Your boyfriend won't know what hit him when you dance with him. Blow it out the ball park together, and have fun."

"Thanks Hyung," Jun said with a bright grin as they sat down to the dinner that his mother had insisted on making for them. "I owe you one."

"Just have fun. That's all I want."

Chapter Text

The night that Brian had arranged came much sooner than expected. Several coaches and coaching teams from the Toronto area came together and they made a proper night of it; the Granite Club, the York Region Skating Academy, and the Toronto Cricket Curling and Skating Club all came together and booked a conference room at a hotel for the night so that their skaters could relax one more time before the season began properly. Evgenia, when she had first gone to one, had explained that it was an excuse to dress up and have fun, and so the event had become much more formal than it used to. Jun and Conrad wore their prom suits, Joseph wore one that he'd worn to gala after gala, Jason had got a new one fitted ready for the season ahead, and, after much prodding from Javier, Yuzuru finally had a fitted suit that didn't hang well below his fingers and was much too big for him.

"My kids are all growing up," Tracy pretended to wipe her eyes as she dusted off the shoulder of Shingo's suit and nodded to Utana. "What on earth am I meant to do when all my baby birds fly the nest? Goodness, I remember when Javier first came to the club! And now he's a coach."

"Time flies," Brian shook his head with a laugh as the TCC skaters entered the room.

The whole thing, as always, had been beautifully decorated. White tablecloths covered the circular tables, and white and gold decorations accented the walls. A buffet table had been laid out for them and there was also a balcony area out of the room that overlooked some of the city. Quiet music, a mix of classical and more modern, was playing through the speakers. The sun was only just starting to set since it was August, and Tracy was almost immediately swept up into a tight hug.

"Tracy!"

"Lovely to see you again too, Tracey," both the ladies laughed together and settled at what soon became the coaches' table as the others settled around them, chattering about their skaters, the rule changes, and the season ahead. Javier decided to forego joining the table of coaches and instead stayed chatting with Gabrielle and Jason.

Jun, Conrad, Joseph, and Corey all exchanged a look before they made a beeline for the buffet table. Katya joined them and Jun cooed over the cute pictures of her nephew that she had on her phone.

"So cute!" Jun sighed. "I can't wait to become an uncle! Oh it's going to be so much fun. I get to play with the baby and then give it back to my brother if it starts making a fuss."

"Exactly," Katya sighed, "and I'm teaching him English. They don't know English, so it'll be lovely being able to talk to my nephew in our own little secret language, you know?"

"Katya!" Evgenia swept the younger lady up into a hug and then smiled at her like a proud big sister. "My goodness, you look even more beautiful than normal! I hope the boys are treating you well? I've got my eye on all four of you."

"We're behaving, we're behaving!" Joseph defended and Evgenia fixed him with a fake death glare.

Katya did look gorgeous with a pale blue dress that had lace around a sweetheart necklace, complimenting her fair blonde hair. Even with heels on, she looked ever so sweet next to Jun and Conrad when they stood. Evgenia looked much more mature, having gone with a red that made her look older compared to the soft blue that made Katya look innocent. Evgenia's dress also had a dipped back and she cared for no one's stares; there weren't many since most of the skaters were either in the closet, in a relationship, or just not interested. She and Gabrielle had both gone for red dresses, and Gabrielle's had accents of gold across the bodice. Satoko had gone for a much simpler but still mature dress; the pale pink suited her complexion and she looked sophisticated. Again, even with heels on, she looked tiny compared to people like Jun and Conrad, but she was too busy chattering away to Yuzuru, Shingo, and Utana in Japanese that she didn't notice. Roman slid over to Conrad and ruffled his hair, teasing his old training mate.

"Look who it is," he laughed at Conrad's bright pink blush, and, in true Roman form, he squirmed one arm around Conrad's waist and his other around Jun's, "my favourite couple. Man, I need to get the both of you in one of my videos sometime. Everyone in the world loves you two. You two plus Élise. My views would go through the roof."

"Actually," Jun rubbed the back of his neck as he too flushed pink, "I met Conrad properly at the junior grand prix in Dresden, but it was his appearance in your video that really made me want to get to know him even better."

"So I brought together the best couple in this room?" Roman looked so proud of himself until he was poked in the back and let out a shriek.

"No, actually, PyeongChang brought together the best couple in this room," Javier said firmly.

Roman untangled himself from the younger pair and hugged Javier before he gave Yuzuru a hug, smirking at the height difference and poking Yuzuru's waist for good measure. Conrad took the opportunity to take Jun's hand and he led him out onto the balcony. The sun had truly set and the city lights were dim enough that some of the brightest stars could be seen glittering above them like the rhinestones Satomi Ito painstakingly hand placed on Yuzuru's costumes. The music, waltz music, drifted out from the hall, and Conrad looped his arm around Jun's waist, pulling him closer as Jun's free hand found his and the other went to his shoulder. Having a silent conversation with their eyes, they fell into an easy waltz with Conrad leading them as they spun together around the balcony.

"I love you," Conrad whispered to Jun, keeping it within their little bubble, "so much. I really love you."

"I love you too," Jun said with a shy smile and a flush that spread all the way up his cheeks and across his nose. "I wished on the first star of the night that we'd be together."

Conrad squeezed his hand, unsure of what else to say, but he didn't need to say anything. Jun leaned his head on Conrad's shoulder and, in the August night, they kept dancing around together under the light of the stars. They didn't break apart for a while, not until Yuzuru got confused about where his baby had gone and got curious. He poked his head out, looking onto the balcony, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"They're adorable," Javier whispered to him and Yuzuru nodded.

"Doesn't mean I'm going any easier on the bean-pole though."

Chapter Text

Training at the club meant balancing time between everyone's music, everyone's styles, and, when they trained with their costumes on, balancing their colours too. After Yuzuru had worn Jun down, the younger had gone to Satomi Ito about making his costumes and he was finally going to go and try them on for the first time so that she could make the final adjustments for him, ready to debut at the Autumn Classic. Yuzuru was going with him too, ready to look at his own costumes, and Satomi greeted him almost like he was a son to her.

"And you must be Cha Jun Hwan," she said with the gentlest smile Jun had ever seen from a designer. "It's a pleasure to see you again. These were so much fun to make. I absolutely love your music choices. I think they're great," she lowered her voice in a mock whisper, "better even than Yuzuru's."

Yuzuru pouted at her and she burst out laughing before she went to go and get their costume bags. Jun took in the sight around him; the whole place was beautiful. Rolls of fabric were neatly stacked on rollers and stands on one of the walls. Transparent drawers of different coloured rhinestones were on one side. Sequins and buttons were stored in another set of the transparent storage pieces. Thinner pieces of fabrics, used for belts and accents, were also on rolls around the room, and her desk was neat but piled up with initial sketches and templates for some of the patterns. Jun spied a roll of thin gold fabric ribbon that looked suspiciously similar to the gold belt of Seimei and Chopin.

"Alright," Satomi's gentle voice cut him out of his daydreaming as she presented him with his costume bag, "this is your first one. The BTS one. Please tell me what you think of it!"

Jun followed her directions to the changing room as she and Yuzuru stayed chattering away in the main part of her room, jabbering away in Japanese about something or other. Jun blocked them out as he unzipped the costume bag and gasped.

It was gorgeous. With a near black purple as the base colour, white lace fabric had been laid over the top to give an almost ghostly appearance to his costume. Some of it, the parts on his back, looked like wings made of shimmery black, purple, and white lace, and rhinestones lined them to bring out the edges of the fake wings. It hugged at his figure and Jun nearly burst out laughing; no wonder Yuzuru's waist looked so good in his costumes if they all did this sort of thing! It fitted him beautifully, and she'd even made gloves for him so that he didn't have to wear the ones that didn't quite match his skin colour and always looked a bit weird. They were the near black purple colour too and they had little white lace accents on the bits near the sleeves. The lace extended all the way down his arms; it extended to the end of the wings of the black swan.

"Show me!" Yuzuru's voice was like that of both a parent and an older brother. "Junnie! I want to see your costume please!"

Jun stepped out and Yuzuru's jaw dropped. Jun turned for him, showing him the entire costume, and Yuzuru could do nothing but gape at it. Satomi smiled at Jun, tilting her head from side to side.

"How is it?"

"Perfect," Jun whispered as he ran his fingers over the lace wings down his arm. "Absolutely perfect. Thank you so much."

"Try the free skate one please. I need to be sure that both of them will fit you."

Jun nodded and stepped back into the changing room as he heard Yuzuru start talking about his costume. Treating it like a treasure, which, to Jun, it was, he put the costume back into the bag gently and zipped it up before he turned to the other one. In a very different way, it too was gorgeous. Yuna's Les Mis dress had been grey, and Satomi had drawn inspiration from it without even needing to ask Jun whether she should or not. The shirt was a pale grey that didn't clash with the black of his trousers, and it was simple and elegant. Featuring the v-neck that had become a customary feature of Jun Hwan Cha's costumes, grey rhinestones lined it. Elegant and classy was the best way to describe his Les Mis costume, and, when he looked over his shoulder in the mirror, he caught sight of the little line of rhinestones across his back that were just like the line on his Boy With a Star costume. His waist was hugged by a sleek pale grey belt, and he couldn't stop smiling at the pure joy from receiving costumes that were perfect for his programmes. His gloves, again, matched the rest of his costume beautifully; they were the classy pale grey with decorative rhinestones across the back of them. He stepped out of the changing room again and bowed to Satomi before either she or Yuzuru had a chance to say anything.

"Thank you so much! They're perfect. Both of them are absolutely perfect costumes."

"I'm so glad that you like them," she gave him a smile that seemed so similar to Yuzuru's smiles. "I always wonder with someone new if they will like the costumes or not."

"These are perfect. I cannot thank you enough."

Jun disappeared back into the changing room to get back into his street clothes, and then it was Yuzuru's turn. Jun lingered in the shop, looking at the variety of costumes that Satomi had designed that were hung up in pictures around the room while he waited for Yuzuru to finish changing.

The first costume was so different to anything else Yuzuru Hanyu had worn. Yuzuru's costumes were normally light and had an ethereal, faerie-like quality about them. This one, his short programme costume ready for his Unravel skate, was much more similar to Masquerade in style. The hard, bold colours of black white and red clashed against each other with only a soft wall of rhinestones separating them and softening the clash a little. His smirk definitely made Jun think of Tokyo Ghoul, and all three of them nodded with a smile.

"Perfect," Yuzuru said before he bowed to Satomi. "Thank you so much!"

"To hear you call it perfect is a compliment," she gestured to the other bag hanging up in the changing room. "Please, try that one on too."

Yuzuru nodded and disappeared into the changing room again while Jun finished paying for his costumes; his mother had given him the money to sort it out from the money that his federation gave to him.

For a programme that wasn't a tribute, Yuzuru's costume wasn't hugely dissimilar to Mao's. With mesh joining the sides of the dipped shirt, Yuzuru looked almost like a phoenix with blue pieces of fabric and blue rhinestones marking his wings. Black waves of fabric were weaved in between them, making them sparkle and stand out even more. He couldn't stop admiring his costume, and he couldn't hide his smile either.

"What do you think?" Satomi asked. Yuzuru only smiled and mapped out an axel.

"I think it's perfect for my programme and quad axel debut."

Chapter Text

Jun hated to admit it, but he knew that it was coming. Yun-ho and Changmin had obligations in Korea to fulfil and, even though their stay in Canada had been so much fun and had made the off season feel light and homey, they couldn't stay forever. He knew, sooner or later, they would have to go home. He just wished that the day had been further away than it actually was. All too soon he was sitting with the pair of them and his mother in a restaurant, dining out for the final meal of the pop duo in Toronto for the foreseeable future.

"You'll keep in touch with us, won't you?" Jun looked up and met Changmin's soft and gentle eyes. "Right? Not just Yun-ho, but me too."

"Of course, of course Changmin-ssi!" Jun very nearly upset his glass of lemonade and Changmin just gave a gentle laugh that soothed and calmed his nerves.

"You can call me Hyung too. I'd like to get to know Yun-ho's donsaeng better, so Hyung is fine and less formal."

Jun nodded, hiding his blushing face and busying himself with his lemonade. His mother rolled her eyes at them but chattered away, asking them about their latest plans.

"Well actually," Yun-ho set down his chopsticks as he spoke, "we talked about it, and we think our next album will be inspired by our time in Canada. The fun, the show with Jun, seeing the sights, exploring the city, getting to know a certain Tango, all of it. We want to express the joy that we've felt in Canada through our music so that others might be able to enjoy it and experience that kind of joy too."

"That sounds beautiful," Jun's mother was kind and warm, like she always was to Jun after he was done rambling to her about his programme ideas and costume ideas. "It is honourable to perform to make other people feel happy."

"Well," Changmin gave Jun that gentle smile again, "when we were performing at the ice show with Jun Hwan, we felt right. Both of us agree that everything felt so easy there, and it was like we were messing around in the studio. It was fun, and it sounded amazing, and we brought an entire arena to its feet. Plus, your son is very good at putting his emotions out through skating, and, if he's skating to our music, we want it to do the same."

Jun's mother nudged his shoulder and, with a deep red blush, Jun thanked the pair of them over and over again for their praise. They ordered desserts and, while they were waiting for them, Jun dug around in his bag before he held out a wrapped gift to the pair of them.

"What's this?" Yun-ho looked between Jun and his mother, and the two Chas smiled to each other.

"A present to commemorate your time in Canada. We're so glad that you've had fun, and we want you to always remember it."

"I doubt we'll forget it," Changmin laughed as he and Yun-ho started to unwrap the paper.

"Well, just in case you get amnesia, this will help to jog your memories."

Both the singers fell silent when they got the paper off, mouths open in awe as they looked at the gift. The front of the photo album had a gold rim, engraved with floral designs and vines that weaved their way around the edge of the picture of the three of them that Jun's mother had selected and printed off professionally to put in the front. The material of the rest of the album felt like satin and they opened it up, leafing through the pictures that Jun and his mother had chosen. The one of Yun-ho with ice cream on his nose. One of the three of them at the show. One of the three of them in the dance studio with Jeff. The selfie that Jun had taken when they'd gone out for karaoke in the city with Conrad. A photo of an unsure Yun-ho with Tango balanced on his shoulder. A picture of Changmin before the Royal Ontario museum. Another picture of the duo, this time with both of them wearing a foam mustache from their cappuccinos in the little coffee shop that Jun and Conrad had dragged them into. They turned page after page in the photo album before they got to the last one and smiled, blinking back their unshed tears in a desperate attempt to stop them falling. It was the picture where Jun had managed to drag the entire Cricket Club team of elite skaters and coaches in and they surrounded the pop duo, integrating them and making them feel as much as a part of the Cricket Club family as Jun was.

"I love this picture," Yun-ho mumbled as he traced the edges of it with his fingertips. "Thank you so much for the album."

"It's our pleasure," Jun's mother had that little sparkle in her eye that Jun knew meant trouble. "And you need something for when you begin furnishing your new home, so we thought that a commemorative photo album would be the perfect gift for you."

"New home?" Changmin blinked at her before both he and Yun-ho flushed bright red, making Jun burst out laughing. Under the table they linked their little fingers and Jun just innocently sipped at his lemonade. "Oh God."

"You think I didn't notice, Hyang?" Jun asked, raising his eyebrows.

Yun-ho groaned and covered his flushing red face. "I didn't think that you didn't notice. I more hoped that you'd ignore it."

"Nope! No way!" Jun laughed and set down his lemonade with a bright grin. "Come on! I'm a fanboy, remember? I take note of when you breathe, when you upload an instagram photo, when you--"

"Okay okay," Changmin shushed him as his own face burned bright red too from being exposed. "We don't need to tell you to keep it quiet, do we?"

"It's alright," Jun mimed zipping his mouth shut as their desserts were set down, "your secret is safe with me."

After dessert, and after Jun's mother had insisted on paying, the four walked back towards the hotel that the duo were staying in. Jun hugged the pair of them tightly as they stood in the doorway and he hid his face in Yun-ho's shoulder.

"Promise you'll watch me at Nationals? Both of you?"

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," he promised. "Thank you so much for the album."

"I'm so glad that you like it. And I promise I'm going to use City Lights as my exhibition skate this season."

"That's what we like to hear." Yun-ho patted him on the shoulder and gave him a gentle smile. "Take on the world like you're meant to."

"I will," Jun giggled as his mother took his hand and they started back towards their house. He waved to them over his shoulder. "Have a safe flight!"

Chapter Text

Training became more intense as the Autumn Classic got ever closer, but it didn't impact the romance blossoming in the club and blooming in the air. In their breaks, Jun and Conrad cuddled each other and, more often than not, one of them made the other double over with laughter by the benches. Javier made sure that Yuzuru was alright; he refilled his water bottle with the filtered water from the machine and made sure that he had enough flavour packets since Yuzuru apparently couldn't stand the taste of water. He made sure that Pooh-san sat just so on the benches so that he could watch the practices, and he often made him his favourite foods with balanced vegetables for dinner so that Yuzuru was kept both happy and healthy. On one of the days at lunch, the four of them sat at one of the outside tables together in the early September sunshine, relaxing as they ate and chatted about everything and nothing.

"It's so weird to be here and not competing myself, but I do have enough juniors to keep me on my toes," Javier said with a sigh as he reached over and moved some of Yuzuru's hair out of his eyes. "And this one. Brian put me on 'stopping random quad axel duty' which I thought was going to be much easier than it actually is."

Conrad burst out laughing as he stirred his noodles. "You can't stop the Yuzuru when he wants to jump the quad axel."

Javier groaned, running his hand through his curls. "Tell me about it. And I swear that little girl is adamant that she's going to make me turn grey before I'm thirty five. She's moved on from trying the quad salchow behind my back to trying the quad loop. Who on earth apart from Yuzuru Hanyu even does the quad loop?!"

"Jun when Brian isn't looking?" Conrad added, earning a dirty look from Javier as he innocently sipped at his noodles.

"Apart from our crazy noodle boyfriends."

Yuzuru and Jun exchanged a look before they went back to discussing their costumes. Jun waved his hands around with a smile and Yuzuru laughed, copying some of Jun's dramatic choreography for his short programme. Jun retaliated by making some of Yuzuru's intense faces from his Unravel short, and he played his trump card by doing the best Yuzuru impression he could muster.

"TABETE KUDASAI!" Jun opened his arms to the invisible Ken Kaneki in front of him, making Conrad burst out laughing and Yuzuru cover his face in embarrassment. Javier gave Yuzuru a little pat on the shoulder to comfort him but couldn't help chuckling too at Yuzuru's embarrassed little noises.

"Jun! You're meant to be on my side with this! You're not meant to make fun of your skating dad!"

"You made fun of my BTS choreography!" Jun pointed out with the cute little fake pout that just melted Conrad's heart. "So I will make fun of you telling an anime character to eat you at the Olympics."

"I adopted the wrong child. The cute ones always stab you in the back," Yuzuru whined to Javier for the rest of their lunch break until Brian called them back in, telling them to get ready for their next training session.

The rest of the session seemed to fly by and, because it was September, it started to get darker earlier. By the time Conrad's mother came to pick him and Jun's mother came to pick Jun up, the sun had dipped to below the horizon and the world was lit up only by the city lights and the lights of the stars. Conrad looped his arm through Jun's and slid his hand into the other's squeezing it gently.

"Want to go for a walk later with Tango and Élise in the sunset?"

Jun smiled up at him, rising on the balls of his feet to press a kiss to Conrad's cheek.

"I'd love that. What time and where?"

"My house? Then we can walk through the suburbs together in the light of the city buildings but so that it's not so bright that we won't be able to see the stars."

Jun nodded, squeezing his hand and pressing a kiss to his cheek again. "See you later tonight."

After Jun had finished washing up their plates from their dinner, his mother gave him a curfew and told him to come back before then or to at least call her if he was going to be late. He walked along the street with Tango on his leash, running as far away as he could get before it stopped him disappearing into the undergrowth, and he sighed with happiness when Conrad's house appeared in the street. He didn't need to knock on the door; Conrad and Élise were already waiting for him on the steps outside Conrad's house and, had Élise not been on her lead, she would have bounced all over Jun when he approached the house. Conrad tugged down Jun's scarf and mask to press a soft, sweet kiss to his lips before he affectionately tugged them back up and slid his free hand into Jun's.

"Ready?"

"Of course."

Their walk was filled with a comfortable silence. Occasionally a car would rumble past, going slowly down the suburban streets that had cars parked both on and off the road. The leaves that had already begun to fall were crunchy underfoot and Élise particularly loved to bury herself in the small pile; her fluffy head only emerged when Conrad tugged on her leash to encourage her to remove herself from her palace of fallen leaves. Jun sighed quietly as he kept his hand in Conrad's and they followed the street, heading away from the city lights behind them and walking towards the night sky that wasn't full of light pollution and instead held the beauty and majesty of the stars. They kept going on together and stopped at the top of one of the hills. They were far enough away from the suburbs to not get very much light pollution, but they weren't stupid enough to risk heading into the middle of nowhere. Away from the city lights, Jun's eyes lit up as he looked around them and took in every individual diamond hand placed in the deep blue and purple sky.

"Woah," he whispered and Conrad smiled, focusing on Jun and his profile instead of the stars and sky above him.

"Yeah," Conrad nodded. "It's breath-taking, isn't it?"

Chapter Text

Yuzuru Hanyu was not having a good training session. With the Autumn Classic just a week away, his quad axel that he had finally got stable was betraying him again, and his quad loop and lutz were both misbehaving. With Jun trying the loop and flip as well as the salchow and toe loop, he couldn't just rest on his laurels and pray for the best. But, with each fall onto his backside, his frustration welled up inside of him and he got more and more irritated. Javier's gentle and loving presence couldn't even help him, and, more often than not, Yuzuru just wanted to shove him off when he hugged him in an attempt to soothe him and make him feel better. His frustration and anger rose up inside of him and it was at times like this that his insecurities reared their ugly heads again.

As always, it was Tracy who knew what to do and knew how to come to his rescue. Yuzuru tumbled after a quad axel attempt and stayed flat on his back on the ice, letting the cold seep through his Under Armour training gear as he stared up at the roof of the club. He felt a presence sit down next to him and he was about to tell Javier to get lost when instead a calm, soothing, and maternal voice spoke to him.

"You're tensing too much," Tracy's voice was kind and gentle. "You're too... In your head, you're telling yourself that you have to get it perfect. That it has to be a perfect jump. But it's okay if it's not perfect. You need to let yourself relax a little with the quad axel mentally. You've landed it. I know you have. I've seen it, and it's been incredible. You were so much more free from your own thoughts and your own mind when you did it, and I think you need to do that again. Do not worry. Go into it and your body will find the landing. I know it will because I've seen you do it before."

"But what if I--"

"If you fall, you'll do what you always do and bounce back stronger," Tracy reassured him as she helped him to sit up on the ice so that his back didn't freeze too. "Now come on. My butt is getting cold and I think we should do some stroking, don't you? I found a beautiful new piece of music to stroke to and I really think that you'll like it."

Yuzuru took her outstretched hand and got to his feet with her help. She skated over to play some music and the lovely piano melody from Yuzuru's childhood came through. Joe Hisaishi. One Summer's Day. He and Tracy stroked to the gentle and almost lazy piano music and Yuzuru found himself relaxing as memories of watching Spirited Away with Saya came to mind, pushing the insecurities away. Soon, as he skated alongside Tracy and matched her every movement, all that was left in his mind were happy thoughts. Happy thoughts about why he was skating and what he loved the most about skating. Happy thoughts about who he was skating for, the best parts about his programmes, and some of his best memories. There was no room for sadness as he skated and Tracy recognised it in him. With a smile, she gave him a nod and Jun moved out of the way as Yuzuru lined up for the quad axel.

Don't think too much. Your body knows it. You've done it so many times in practice now. You can do it Yuzu. You can do it. You can do it. You can.

Yuzuru threw himself into the air and rotated so fast that the club went past faster than a blur. He rotated once, twice, three times, four times, four and a half times, and he landed on that blade, the four-millimetre-wide blade, and the running edge coming out of it was smooth. He glided backwards, free leg outstretched, and his eyes lit up with a gleam that they hadn't really held since the Olympics. Tracy shook her head at him fondly, holding out her hands as if to ask him 'what did you really expect? I told you that you could do it.'

"I did it," Yuzuru flew across the ice into her arms, enveloping her in a tight hug as he hid his face in her shoulder. "I did it Tracy."

"I know you did," She patted his back and wiped her eyes as tears started to well up in them. "Goodness Yuzuru, I'm so proud of you. You'll land it next week. I know you will. Can't let Jun win, can you? Otherwise we'll be throwing you a silver medal party instead!"

"Over my dead body!" Yuzuru stuck his nose in the air and both Jun and Tracy burst out laughing. "What? What's so funny?!"

"You!" Tracy affectionately ruffled his hair much to Yuzuru's displeasure as the gentle piano music kept playing in the background. "Oh, Yuzuru, you really are one of a kind and you're so special."

"I can't wait until I have my first senior international gold," Jun teased him from across the rink and Yuzuru's eyes gained that hungry focus that meant he was ready to kick ass at his next competition. Tracy saw it too and made a mental note to buy Jun a gift for it.

"Come on you two. There shall be no butt kicking for a while and no gold medals until next week. First things first: cool down time!"

She shuffled through her playlist and put on a Chopin nocturne, filling the rink with the gentle and elegant piano melodies that were the work of a pure perfectionist. Yuzuru and Jun both copied her moves as she led their cool down, helping them to work on their edges as they relaxed after a hard session. The piano was relaxing to both of them as it was so gentle and different to their own skates and programmes: even Yuzuru's who was skating to a piano concerto. When they were done, they both bowed to Tracy and thanked her profusely. She only clapped them both on the back and sent them off home with the strict instructions to look after themselves and get plenty of rest, ready for the next week and the Autumn Classic. In the locker room, Yuzuru glanced over at Jun out of the corner of his eye and gave the other a comforting and gentle smile.

"You'll do great, you know. I believe in you."

Jun looked up, face breaking out in a sunny smile that seemed to light up the entire locker room. "You think I can do it? You think I can do the quad loop and the quad flip?"

"I know it. I've seen you do them in your run throughs. I know you can do them."

Tracy's words echoed in his own and he smiled at his skates when he caught himself repeating them.

"Trust yourself. I know you can do it. You're talented and you've worked so hard. It'll be worth it. Efforts will lie but--"

"They will never be in vain." Jun finished, giving Yuzuru a smile. "I know. Thanks Yuzu."

"My pleasure Jun. Kick the bean-pole's backside at the Autumn Classic."

Both of them exchanged a look before they burst out laughing.

Chapter Text

The competition day arrived and Jun was full of adrenaline. They were already out for their warm up and the crowd had already done their dramatic screams of joy when Yuzuru had stripped off his ANA jacket, revealing Satomi's beautiful handiwork for the Unravel costume. He mapped through his quad salchow combination and quad toe as well as his triple axel before he tried to focus on his spins to stop his nerves from overtaking him. Brian tapped the boards, signalling to Jun to come over and, as he drank his water, Brian gave him a gentle smile.

"Keep calm. You're doing fine. You'll do great in the skate. Just have some fun, okay? First pancake and all that. I know you can do well, but it's not the end of the world if you don't have the best time out there."

Jun nodded and Brian let him go back to his warm up when Yuzuru stopped by the boards, exchanging words with Brian too before Jason chatted to Tracy. The rest of the warm up seemed to go by way too fast for Jun's liking and soon he was stepping off the ice with the others, leaving Jason on the ice for his short. With Jun going second, he lingered beside the ice and considered the harm in watching. Jason was basically his older brother at the rink and was one of his best friends; he wanted to watch him and cheer for him. Plus, as Brian had said, it was his first competition and the stakes weren't too high so it was fine for him to watch.

Jason somehow had an ability to connect with the music that could only be rivalled by Yuzuru. Somebody you Loved was so overused it was basically a warhorse at this point, but Jason made it flow so beautifully. His opening jump was the quad toe and it was flawless. He had the same speed going into it as he did going out, and it was weaved into the choreography like a beautiful handmade tapestry of steps. Jun couldn't help but feel a little swell of pride in his chest, especially because he'd seen every day just how hard Jason worked himself to get that quad to where it was, and now it looked like it might finally be paying off. The triple axel was gorgeous too; it couldn't quite rival Yuzuru's in terms of beauty but it really wasn't that far off. Deep into the second half Jason had put his combination but, in true Cricket Club Chaos style, he didn't do his planned triple lutz triple toe. Oh, Jun recognised the glint in Jason's eye and saw a triple lutz triple loop executed with a grace and flow that Jun had been pushing for both seasons that he had done the combination.

Jason's short, in simple terms, was flawless and his scores in the Kiss and Cry more than reflected that. Pride bubbled up more than jealousy or fear in Jun's chest and he smiled at Brian with a scrunched-up nose.

"Have fun. And just relax, okay?"

Jun nodded and took to the ice as they announced his name. He took his starting position and let the orchestral version of Black Swan fill the little arena in Oakville before he took off, performing Jeff's choreography with all his heart. He launched into his combination and internally cursed himself when he under rotated his quad salchow but it didn't deflate his good mood, especially when he managed to get the triple toe loop on the end of it. His second quad, the toe loop, was much better rotated and it felt like one of the best that Jun had ever done. He'd added in the layback and Biellmann spin, showing off his new and improved flexibility to his fans and the audience before he launched into the triple axel and hit it cleanly too with a triumphant smirk. He then threw himself into the choreography, performing to every little nuance.

A nearly clean short! He thought to himself when his toepick decided to tease him and he tripped, splatting as he came out of his final spin much to the amusement of the audience and commentators when he sat up with a smile on the ice.

Oops

Brian mirrored his internal sentiment and gave him a hug before he and David sat in the Kiss and Cry together, laughing to each other when they showed the footage of Jun tripping over and splatting. He'd scooped up the few plushies that had been thrown and squeezed the little raccoon toy someone had given him when the cameras focused on him. He waved and accepted his scores, nodding as he slid into second place behind Jason like he expected to end up. Jason was waiting for him and pulled him into a hug as he left the Kiss and Cry, and they both hovered beside the boards to watch Yuzuru go.

It was pure angst on ice. Unravel was an angsty piece of music and Jun and Jason could feel every ounce of Yuzuru's pain and regret from losing Worlds and the Grand Prix Final was poured out on the ice. Jun winced, flinching back as Yuzuru splatted hard on his quad loop at the beginning and Jason grimaced too. Recovery operation first pancake it was then. Yuzuru's quad salchow triple toe loop combination was much better than Jun's and it was almost like butter; it was like his flawless one performed at the start of the second half of his free skate at the 2017 world championships in Finland. His axel behaved, as it always did, and Jun even chuckled to himself when he heard several of the fans whispering to each other about the size of the axel.

Oh yeah, he thought with a little grin, just you wait until you see what Yuzuru has planned for the free skate

Yuzuru would need his planned free, it seemed. With a botched spin and his botched quad loop, he ended up in second when the dust settled and there was a significant gap between him and Jason. Jason was still in first and Jun was comfortably in third ahead of Keegan and Conrad who were sitting in fourth and fifth respectively.

"Team Cricket podium for tomorrow!" Jason wished them luck and they exchanged a group hug before departing for their hotel rooms

Jun woke up with a nervous kind of energy running through his veins like someone had syringed it into him, and he couldn't help but bounce up and down as he waited for his turn on the ice. Yuzuru was skating before him and he really didn't like that thought; luckily there were no pooh bears to clear up since the event had gift boxes instead of flower girls. The day before a few fans had ignored the rules but a sharp glare from Yuzuru had been enough to scare them into sticking to them. The warm up for Jun was nervy and he popped his quad flip and quad loop a couple of times before Brian tapped the boards and called him over.

"Relax. It's okay. Just relax. The bronze is your aim here. Don't try and chase after the gold or silver because then you'll put too much pressure on yourself to do well, and I don't think they're really your aims right now. Focus on the bronze and focus on trying to go clean. Those are your goals, alright?"

Jun nodded and gave Brian a smile. His coach let him go back to warming up before he gave Yuzuru some words of encouragement and Tracy spoke to Jason, who would be the last to go. The first in their group was Roman, followed by Keegan and then Conrad, then Yuzuru, Jun, and Jason. When the warm up ended, Jun hid backstage for as long as he could bear, but curiosity got the better of him and he just had to watch Yuzuru's free skate.

The crowd screamed for him and the opening notes of the piano filled the arena with a sharp intensity that no one dared to break. Everyone was holding their breath as, on the notes that Mao Asada had landed her triumphant triple axel at the Sochi Olympics in her free skate, Yuzuru Hanyu did the impossible and landed the first ever quadruple axel in history. The crowd exploded and Yuzuru, despite Roman uttering near Jun to "just step off the ice and claim your gold medal Yuzuru" kept skating and the rest of his skate was nothing to write home about; he popped his quad lutz and quad loop and managed to get into first overall by the GOE on the rest of his quads. Still, he looked satisfied enough and gave the camera a smile that he was sure would end up on the screen of a certain coach in California. He even made Pooh-san blow a kiss for good measure to the coach.

Then it was Jun's turn. How was he meant to follow that? With his own blend of softness and intensity.

Jun stepped out onto the ice and took his starting position. He, instead of thinking about the skate that David had choreographed for him, thought about the good times that he'd had when he was watching the film. He thought about when he and Conrad would sit curled up on the sofa together with their pets napping on their laps and they watched Les Mis for the thousandth time. He thought about when Conrad had learnt all the duets with him so that they could sing them together. He thought about the time that Amelia had walked in halfway through "Do you hear the people sing" and had found them climbing on the sofa like a pair of toddlers. He thought about them instead and landed his first ever quadruple loop.

Again, like Brian said, it certainly was the first pancake, but he didn't pop his quad flip and only under rotated it. He had to take some pleasure in that, and it was only under by a hair. The rest of his skate was a little messy but he felt satisfaction when he settled in the kiss and Cry and saw the number 2 flash up beside his name when he had got his total scores. A medal! He was getting another medal!

And then it was Jason's turn. And Jason was mesmerising. His everything had such a perfect finish to it that Yuzuru's and Jun's messy skates just couldn't compare. He skated like he was born to, like he had been created to, like the music was inside of him and his blades gliding across the ice was the composer writing out the notes on the manuscript or the performer playing them on the violin. His four-minute free programme passed in the blink of an eye and Jun found himself next to Yuzuru, applauding for their training mate and his big brother as he sat in the Kiss and Cry with their coaches.

Yuzuru wasn't even mad that Jason had beaten him. He truly had skated the best at the competition and both he and Jun were ecstatic that Jason had won an international medal. The three Cricket Club training mates and medallists jumped into a hug together, and Jason and Yuzuru teased Jun by ruffling his hair and messing it up.

"We're so proud of you Jason!" Yuzuru patted him on the shoulder and then gave him a wicked smile. "Oh, Shoma is going to be so jealous that I got to share the ice with you and the podium with you and not him! Hah! Serves him right for stealing my record back at that four continents."

"You're still salty about that?" Jun raised an eyebrow at him but shook his head. Yuzuru really was a mystery sometimes.

"Of course, I am," He huffed and then pouted at the younger, "And you! How dare you steal my jump? Your quad loop was so much better than mine!"

"No, yours was a double, and Jun's was a quad. That's why his was better," Jason teased before he pulled Yuzuru into the kind of hug that Javier used to give him and Javier alone. "Well done on the quad axel though. It was amazing. You could feel the adrenaline in the entire arena and whoa, it was so exciting to see it and feel it. I just had to watch it and experience it. It was amazing, Purely amazing and you're both so talented." "Cricket podium!" Jun laughed and Yuzuru nodded, ruffling his hair.

"Cricket Podium!"

"And Conrad gets to share my medal anyway," Jun said with a little laugh. "Come on. Let's get them."

Chapter Text

The flower and medal ceremony was as wholesome as everyone had imagined and then some. Jun was the first to noodle his way out onto the podium, giving the crowd his bright smiles and waves as he stepped up onto the podium. The crowd went wild for Yuzuru as he skated out with a wistful smile, bowing as Rachmaninoff echoed around the area and he did a little single axel for the audience as a nod to his quad. He pulled Jun into a hug before, with a dramatic sigh, he stepped up onto the position for the silver medallist on the podium.

Both Yuzuru and Jun applauded as loudly and enthusiastically as they could along with the crowd as Jason was announced as the gold medallist. Lindsey Stirling's Ascension filled the arena as Jason took tentative bows that were met with rapturous applause. He hugged Jun tightly as they exchanged praise for each other, and he then hugged Yuzuru, laughing at Yuzuru's face that was scrunched up with happiness for him, no matter how much he tried to pretend that he was upset. Jason jumped up onto the middle step of the podium and practically glowed with happiness as he stood between the other two. Jun was presented with his bronze first, then Yuzuru with his silver, and finally he was given his gold. Both Yuzuru and Jason burst out laughing when they watched as Jun was presented with his bouquet of flowers and the very first thing he did, in typical Cha Jun Hwan fashion, was smell them. Yuzuru got his next and held them close to his chest before he shifted them so that he could applaud Jason. They took photographs on their own parts of the podium before they stepped up, joining Jason on the top step.

"Do you think Javi will mind if I touch your waist?" Jason joked as he looped an arm around Yuzuru and the other around Jun. "And you do think Conrad would mind if I hold yours too?"

"Well, I know Shoma is going to kick my backside for hugging you first when you won gold instead of him getting to," Yuzuru teased, poking Jason in the side to make him laugh. “Well one Jason. Very very well done. You really deserve this.”

“You do,” Jun said with a nod from Jason’s other side. “Your performance finally got the scores it deserves, huh?”

“You guys will beat me when your tech is down and sorted, and you’ll have the world beaten on your performance scores when you go clean Yuzuru. And you will go clean.”

The three of them smiled before they did a little lap of the arena and a trio of fangirls passed them their national flags, since Jun and Jason were a little more hesitant to steal the flags from behind the podiums compared to Keegan and Kevin the year before. Instead they gratefully borrowed the ones from their fans and circled the rink, waving to the crowd with them wrapped around their shoulders before they paused for more photographs with their flags, and then some with their flags and their coaches. Brian, Tracy, and Ghislain were practically glowing and, after Zhenya had won the silver in the ladies behind Rika, they had a lot to celebrate.

“Let’s go out for a meal together,” Brian suggested after they had got back to the hotel and the sacks full of pooh bears had been left with Yuzuru’s management, ready for him to sort through later on. “You too Conrad. I know you didn’t medal but you did really well and we’re very proud of you coming into fourth place. You’ve worked so hard, and it is only the first competition of the season, remember?”

Conrad nodded and the Cricket Club group got a table for nine at a restaurant. Press were kept out of it to give them a quiet night and, after Jason had finished texting Shoma about the amazing experience, they finally set off together and settled down in their seats in the Italian restaurant. Tracy and Javier agonised over the wine before they finally ordered a bottle of red for the table as the others ordered varying pasta dishes and Yuzuru a risotto. Much to Jun’s irritation, Yuzuru reached over and handed his wine glass to the waitress to take it away.

“Hey!”

“You’re a baby,” Yuzuru chided as he handed his own glass back too and Evgenia gave back hers, “and you’re not nineteen yet. Not until next month. You’re not allowed to drink in Ontario.”

Jun pouted and sipped at his lemonade in that over dramatic way that made the rest of the table laugh. Javier poured wine for the coaches, Jason, and Conrad, and Brian raised his glasses in a toast.

“To our wonderful skaters. A very tasty first pancake for each of you,” Brian joked as they tapped their glasses together. “First of all, congratulations Jason on your win, congratulations Jun on your first quad loop, congratulations Conrad on your first quad lutz, congratulations Evgenia on your first quad salchow and, of course, congratulations Yuzuru on your first quad axel. Here’s to the grand prix series in the hope that it will be just as successful.”

“Our first gold together,” Tracy said gently to Jason and he nodded with a smile like sunshine.

“So,” Yuzuru turned to Brian and, much to Javier’s amusement, pulled out a little notebook from his bag, “I want to work on—”

“We’re not talking skating right now!” Jun interrupted, covering his ears and making Ghislain laugh. “No no no! We’re relaxing! No skating talk until tomorrow.”

“I agree. No skating talk until tomorrow.” Brian pushed Yuzuru’s notebook back into his bag for him. “I know you don’t like coming second—”

“It’s like death. I’m glad Jason did so well but it’s like death.”

“That’s… Really kind of you?” Jason’s tone was light, jokey, and questioning.

Yuzuru gave him a scrunchy smile and Brian promised him that they would start fresh on the Monday morning back at the club. Their food arrived and the atmosphere was so comfortable that it was almost like a family dining together instead of a training team. When the meal was done, Javier took Yuzuru for a walk in the Ontario evening under the stars. A light breeze moved Yuzuru’s hair and Javier kept his hand in his as they followed the pavement, walking in a comfortable silence until they reached outside the hotel again.

“Yuzu? I got you a present.”

Yuzuru looked up at him, tilting his head to the side. Javier reached into his bag and set a blue flower crown with silver rhinestones at the centre of each flower down on his head and a kiss on Yuzuru’s cheek.

“You looked gorgeous out there. When you landed that quad axel, I mean… Woah. It was the most amazing thing I think I’ve ever seen in my life. You’re amazing.”

Yuzuru just threw himself into the other’s arms for a hug and Javier happily obliged, holding him close as they stood in the cool air of the night under the stars.

Chapter Text

Jun closed his locker and glanced over at the other, raising an eyebrow at the blonde leaning next to him.

“You want me to do what?”

“Amelia has been nagging me to do skincare and face masks and stuff like that with her. But I have no idea what to do or how to do them, so could you come over and do them with us?”

Jun fixed him with a firm glare, quirking an eyebrow. “Are you asking me cause I’m Korean? That’s a stereotype Conrad.”

Conrad matched the glare back but his was much lighter. “Do you or do you not own one of those cute little hairbands with the cat ears to keep your hair off your face for skincare.”

“Well, yes—”

“Do you or do you not have a ten-step routine that you follow to the letter each evening?”

“Maybe but—”

“Is there or is there not a shelf in my bathroom dedicated to your skincare products that Amelia constantly steals?”

Jun rolled his eyes. “Alright alright I get it.”

“I asked you because you’re knowledgeable,” Conrad poked Jun’s cheek lightly. “Also Amelia wants an excuse to invite you over again because she likes you more than she likes me.”

“Well, that’s just siblings isn’t it?”

“Hi Jun!” Conrad’s father waved to him from in the kitchen and gave him a bright smile. “Lovely to see you over again. Amelia has been begging Conrad to ask you over for ages now.”

“Thank you,” Jun had grown far more comfortable around the other’s family and he felt almost at home when he was with them. A small ball of fluff bounced up into his arms as Conrad took his bags up to his room for him, and Jun pressed a little kiss to the top of the Pomeranian’s head. “Hello Élise! How are you, my favourite Orzel? Don’t tell Conrad I said that. Have you been behaving? Or have you been causing him all sorts of trouble?”

“She’s been causing trouble,” Conrad said with a huff as they settled on the sofa together, waiting for dinner to be done. “Pest. I love her but she’s a pest. Just like Amelia.”

“Oi!”

Jun giggled, playing with Élise’s front paws as she stood supported on his tummy. She let out the most adorable little barks as she pawed at his face before Conrad’s father called them through for dinner. After eating, Jun and Conrad got into their pyjamas and Conrad moved their toothbrushes away from the sink before Jun got out all the products from the cabinet, and he and the Orzel siblings squeezed into the bathroom together.

“Oooh, what’s this?” Conrad looked up from where he was cleaning off his face with the bubbly cleanser Jun had bought Amelia as a present from Korea to see Jun studying a pot of her face mask. “Vanilla and honey? I’ve never seen this one before. Looks cool.”

“Amelia has a lot of weird things,” Conrad teased her as she secured her hair out of her face with her hairband with little cat ears on it that matched Jun’s.

“Well, let’s use it!”

When Conrad was done washing off the cleanser and had exfoliated, Jun took great delight in slathering on the mask while Amelia teased the pair of them. Conrad got to apply it to Jun and, if he lingered for longer than necessary on the smooth and soft skin of Jun’s cheeks, no one had to know. The three of them sat there and looked at their reflections in the mirror with little giggles rippling through the room.

“We look so weird like this,” Amelia said with a laugh as she patted down some of the creamy white mask on her cheeks. “We look like ghosts.”

“Kitty ghosts,” Jun corrected, playing with the white and pink ears of his headband that matched hers.

“Meow!” She laughed.

“We need to get Conrad a headband too,” Jun ruffled his boyfriend’s hair lightly with his hand and gave him a sunshine smile. “What’s meow in Polish and French?”

“You could ask Amelia this, you know.”

“But I like your accent,” Jun gave him those cute little puppy eyes, just like Élise did, and he couldn’t really refuse them. “Please?”

“In French it’s miaou.”

“Miaou?” Jun copied with an adorable accent that just made Conrad’s heart flutter like a little bird was trapped inside of him. “That’s so cute! What about Polish?”

“Miau. It’s miau in Polish.”

“Miau,” Jun repeated. “How was that?”

“Beautiful,” was all Conrad could get out. “You sound beautiful.”

“Is he lying?” Jun asked Amelia, keeping his tone light and teasing.

“No, you actually do sound very sweet. Your accents are terrible, but you sound sweet. How do you say meow in Korean?”

“Yaong,” Jun answered, tone playful as he titled his head to either side on the two syllables. “Or nyang.”

“Like Nyan cat?”

Jun snorted with laughter and elbowed Conrad in the side with a shake of his head. “Nyaa is how you say it in Japanese, and that’s where Nyan cat is from. How much would I have to pay you to play Nyan cat on repeat around Yuzuru?”

“You couldn’t. I do kind of value my life, you know,” Conrad gave him a mock serious look as he washed off the mask. “You can get away with it because you’re so cute, but I can’t!”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t kill you,” Jun leaned over and placed a gentle kiss onto the freshly cleansed skin of Conrad’s cheek. “Promise.”

“You smell of vanilla,” Conrad whispered to him, ignoring Amelia telling them to go get a room. “Come on. Wash off the rest of that mask and then you can help me with all of these toners and eye creams and whatever else I need to apply to do your proper skincare routine.”

“And then we’ll watch Les Mis and eat popcorn to ruin it all?” Jun asked with his pleading eyes.

“Yes,” Conrad nodded and stroked Jun’s hair that was pushed out of his eyes by the hairband. “Then we’ll watch Les Mis and ruin it all.”

Chapter Text

“You’re pouting.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yuzu, mi vida, mi novio, you really are. I could balance Effie on your bottom lip since you’re pouting so much.”

Yuzuru sighed dramatically and nodded over to the table in the corner. “Why can’t we be that cute?”

Javier followed his eyeline and couldn’t help but chuckle. Conrad was doing an Instagram live with Joseph and Corey and, in true Conrad fashion, he had a pot of ramyun noodles on the table in front of him. He was emptying sauce packets and seasoning packets into it when they all heard that sound.

“NO!”

“Shit!” Conrad let out a gasp and then immediately apologised to the Instagram audience watching. “Oh God I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to swear at you all. I just—”

“Conrad Orzel!” Jun’s tone was an amusing mix of murderous and disgusted. “Have you just made a mess of your ramyun again?”

“Jun, I’m so sorry, I—”

“I can’t believe you’ve just done that,” Jun shook his head as he looked at the Instagram chat. “See? They all know! Nam just messaged saying that you need to put the water in first. At least Nam listened to me when I told you before!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry I forgot.”

Jun shook his head in mock irritation before he passed Conrad his phone back and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll have to teach you properly sometime how to make ramyun.”

Conrad flushed bright red and it only got worse when Jun settled on the seat next to him and leaned his head on Conrad’s shoulder as he ate his dosirak, nibbling on his rice, kimchi, and little beef pancakes that his mother had made for him as Conrad continued his fight with the ramyun.

“The chat says I should give you a kiss,” Conrad glanced down at Jun and the younger gave him a shy little smile.

“Are you going to?”

Conrad shook his head and pressed one to Jun’s forehead instead of his lips. “I’ve been eating spicy things and you don’t like spicy food. So I’ll save you having to taste that and I’ll kiss you later. After you do a clean run through after lunch.”

“Get yourself a man who remembers that you don’t like spicy food before he kisses you,” Jun joked, teasing the viewers watching on the Instagram live before other questions started flooding in and the pair answered them.

“See?” Yuzuru pouted from where he sat across the room from them, angrily eating his rice out of his Pooh-bear box. “They’re being too cute. I want to be that cute!”

“I can turn on Instagram right now and kiss you all over it if you want?” Javier joked and he burst out laughing at Yuzuru’s firm glare. “Kidding, kidding! You know I would only do that if you said I could.”

“Because you’re the best,” Yuzuru leaned over anyway to press a gentle kiss to Javier’s jawline. “But I need to do something about the bean-pole flirting with my baby. Not only flirting with my baby but failing to make ramyun properly while doing it! Any moron can make ramyun and—are you even listening to me Javi?”

“You said something?”

“Baka!” Yuzuru bopped him on the head with Pooh-san. “I was complaining about Conrad not listening to Jun about how to make ramyun.”

“Well, to be fair, if he’s as smitten with Jun as I am with you, he’d find it very hard to focus when Jun’s talking. I find it hard to focus when you’re talking because I just get so lost in your beautiful eyes and the tones of your voice that sound almost musical to me, especially when you’re so passionate and invested in what you’re talking about. Seeing you so happy, hearing you so happy, it’s so hard to think of or focus on anything else. If Conrad feels the same way about Jun, I can understand why he struggles so much to take in what he’s saying.”

Javier finished his little speech and glanced over at Yuzuru. The other had his head resting in his hands and he watched Javier as a little pink blush spread out across his nose and cheeks. Javier felt his own face heating up and he rubbed at the back of his neck.

“What? Have I got something on my face?”

Yuzuru shook his head and his smile was much gentler now. “I love when you speak. Your accent is beautiful. Makes everything sound like pretty music. And I really love it when you say my name with your heavy accent. You know, when you say Yuthuru, instead of Yuzuru.”

“Well, I think that Habi-chan is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever heard you say or call me.”

Yuzuru hid his face in Javier’s neck, muttering in Japanese about the other being all sappy and cute for no reason. Javier just laughed and pressed one more kiss to the top of Yuzuru’s head before they settled down to have their lunch together. He kept one hand in Yuzuru’s, his fork in the other hand as his mind went to the future.

It’s not long until Beijing. And surely, surely Yuzuru isn’t chasing a fourth Olympic Gold medal, is he?

“Yuzu?”

“Hm?”

“What are you thinking you’ll do? After Beijing? Keep going or…?”

“Oh no no no. Beijing will be enough. Well,” Yuzuru frowned a little and chewed his lip. “Maybe I’ll compete at Worlds after Beijing. But that season will be my last competitive one. I think I’ve done pretty much all I can do, or I will after Beijing. If I don’t at least try for a third Olympic gold I’ll get mad at myself. But, after that, maybe show skating, maybe coaching, maybe choreography? I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to talk to Brian.”

Javier nodded and stroked Yuzuru’s hair without really thinking about it. “You’ll do an amazing job, no matter what you do.”

Chapter Text

Beijing seemed to come in the blink of an eye, and Javier had somehow managed to end up on the list as one of Conrad’s coaches so that he could go with them for the men’s event. He almost felt the nerves for Yuzuru and the other looked incredibly calm and collected by the boards, waiting to step out onto the ice for the warm up. Just like in PyeongChang, he was the 25^th skater to go and would be first in the group. Nathan was next to him and Javier almost wanted to give him a hug too since he could feel his nerves building; the last time Nathan was the 26^th skater to go at the Olympics following Yuzuru, he’d had a little bit of a disaster. Then it was Jason, Jun, Conrad, and Boyang. Yuzuru kept focused on himself as he skated around the warmup, ignoring the quads happening around him and he instead worried only about himself. The six minutes passed so fast, almost in the blink of an eye, and soon Yuzuru was waiting by the boards face to face with Brian as the others stepped off around him.

“You know what to do.” Brian said with a confident smile. “Trust your training.”

Yuzuru nodded and gave him a little smile before he shook his and Ghislain’s hands. Patting the boards, he pushed himself out and greeted the audience with raised arms before he did his little rituals and smoothed down the front of his black and purple shirt. He held his start position and smirked to the judges as soon as Adios Nonino came through the rink.

The programme was a dream come true to watch. Every jump element was weaved in seamlessly. The quad axel, only allowed in the short due to the change in the rules about the axel jump, was landed with the ease of a triple in typical Yuzuru Hanyu fashion. The quad loop was next, sandwiched between spread eagles. His spins were delicate and effortless, and his quadruple salchow triple toe loop combination in the second half hit the accents of the music before he launched into the step sequence, holding the entire arena in the palm of his hand. Since they were in China, the crowd couldn’t fill the ice with Pooh bears and so instead flooded it with soft goat toys. Javier got to sit with Yuzuru in the Kiss and Cry and found himself close to tears when the record score, of which Yuzuru held previously, was shattered. They hugged tightly and were all but shooed out of the Kiss and Cry, meaning that they missed watching as Nathan sadly fell apart on Olympic ice once again. He dropped, falling well out of the final group once more. Jason was beautiful and clean but, with lowered technical content, he sat a long way behind Yuzuru in second. Both Yuzuru and Javier exchanged a look as Jun stepped out onto the ice, squeezing Brian’s hand before he went.

They needn’t have worried. Jun had grown so much from the little sixteen-year-old competing on Olympic ice in his home country, and he knew how to perform for the world. A quad flip, triple axel, and quad triple combination later, Jun too had delivered an energetic clean skate that landed him in—

“Second place!” Ghislain shook his shoulder and squeezed it with a laugh. “Jun! You’re sitting only behind Yuzuru right now!”

Jun could hardly believe it and, despite being ushered backstage, he had to stay and watch Conrad. He had to. Conrad, to his relief, also went clean and performed to the audience, landing himself in fourth behind Jason.

“Skating skills,” Conrad joked to Brian in the Kiss and Cry.

When the dust settled after Boyang’s slightly messy short, Yuzuru was a long way in front with Jun in second and Jason in third. The next day, Javier was extra nervous even though he wasn’t competing. He and Ghislain helped to keep Yuzuru focused while Brian and Tracy took care of the others.

“You okay?” Javier asked softly and Yuzuru nodded as he took off his earphones.

“Never felt better than knowing I have you beside me.”

Javier, out of the eyes of the cameras, pressed a kiss to his forehead and patted Yuzuru on the back before the other stepped out, joining the final group on the ice for the warm up. Both Boyang and Nathan had skated beautifully earlier in the competition, with Boyang placing ahead, and it wouldn’t be easy to hold onto his title, even with the huge lead from the short. The crowd screamed in delight when he took off his jacket, showing his new and improved black costume decorated with mesh, red feathers, and red rhinestones. Recycling at its height. The firebird would fly again.

Yuzuru was the first of the final three TCC skaters to go, and he felt calm inside instead of full of nervous energy. The calm showed in his skate when every element was executed to absolute perfection, and he brought the crowd to their feet with his layback Ina Bauer decorated with wings made from his arms decorated in red feathers. Four minutes passed in the blink of an eye and soon he was on one knee on the ice, arms out behind him before he closed his fist with a smile.

His Olympic career was over with another world record in the free and one overall. Javier, in the Kiss and Cry next to him, was the first of them to burst into tears.

“You’re getting a medal!” he explained as he wiped his eyes, making Yuzuru burst into tears too.

“You are so bad!”

They both shut up and dried their eyes as they watched Jun take centre ice. Yuzuru’s skating baby really had grown in maturity and skating skills, and he was almost flawless on the ice. He stole the audience’s attention, telling them through his moves “keep your eyes on me. Don’t you dare look away.” Designed initially as an exhibition skate, Jun and David had done a beautiful job of turning Boy with a Star into a competitive piece and it held all the emotions in it as well as much more technical content. Yuzuru caught himself tearing up again and, in the green room, Boyang reached over to pat his arm when he started sobbing at seeing the little 2 appear next to Jun’s name.

When the 2 appeared beside Jason’s name, pushing Jun down to third and leaving Yuzuru in first at the end, Yuzuru ran to pull the two of them into a hug. Only one other man in the history of the sport had won three consecutive golds and that had been back in the 1920s. Yuzuru had shattered history in his own style again, joining Sonja Henie and Gillis Grafstrom. Jason had finally won the Olympic medal that he deserved, and he joked about having matching Olympic silver medals with his boyfriend. And Jun? Jun had made his own history and couldn’t stop the happy tears that ran down the side of his face when he thought about the fact that he was getting the bronze, the first Olympic bronze for figure skating for Korea and the first Olympic medal for men in figure skating in Korea. Their coaches were crying too as they swept them up into their arms and Conrad, having finished 6^th, spun Jun around and peppered his face with kisses, not caring about the crowd that saw them.

The flower ceremony passed by like a blur and they were then rushed off to the official medal ceremony. The ornately decorated bronze circle felt so light around Jun’s neck that he didn’t dare believe it was real, even though he could feel the cool metal in his hand. To Jason, all the hard work finally had paid off when he held the silver and stroked his thumb over the decorations. Yuzuru was teetering on the edge of happy tears as he held the gold disk in his hand. The photographs they took together were light and jokey, with their teasing as training mates coming through.

Brian had insisted that, after the medal ceremony, they and their families would be coming out with them so that they could celebrate the success of the club properly. Jun slipped the bronze onto Conrad and the other pulled him into a kiss, pressing their foreheads together.

“I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m so proud of you too. Top ten finish at your first Olympics!”

Conrad nodded and took of the bronze, putting it back in Jun’s little box. “Seriously, so well done. I couldn’t be prouder.”

After ordering dessert, Javier squeezed Yuzuru’s hand and cleared his throat, getting the attention of the rest of the table.

“There’s something I’d like to say actually.”

Yuzuru blinked at Javier and gasped as the other sunk to one knee in front of him.

“I know you might be a little bit sick of shiny gold circles, but it’s only one more I swear. Yuzuru Hanyu, I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing you’ve made my life. How amazing you are. I love waking up beside you and going to bed beside you. I love coming home to make dinner and waking up to you making breakfast. I love playing with our cats together. I love being with you. So please, Yuzuru, will you do me the honour of marrying me?”

Yuzuru nodded and yet more happy tears ran down his face as Javier slipped the gold ring with three diamonds set into it on his finger. He pulled the other into a hug and Javier kissed him, running his fingers through the other’s hair before they pulled apart, both very emotional.

“Took you long enough,” Brian said with a teasing tone and a light laugh as he raised his glass. “To your very good health and a long future together of coaching, choreographing, and enjoying yourselves.”

“Cheers!”